Bill Gates' Terrapower to supply Meta Platforms with nuclear reactors

Meta Platforms also wants to cover its AI power demand with nuclear energy. To this end, it sought and has now found a project developer for new nuclear power plants: the company Terrapower, founded by Bill Gates in 2006.

Terrapower announced this on Friday. It is developing comparatively small sodium-cooled plutonium breeder reactors and has been building such a small modular reactor (SMR) in Wyoming since 2024. The completion date has been pushed back from the original 2028 to 2030. Just two years later, Terrapower is scheduled to deliver the first two reactors to Meta. Meta has an option for six more.

Each of these nuclear power plants (NPPs) is to have a capacity of 345 megawatts. Integrated accumulators allow for an output of 500 megawatts for up to five hours. With eight nuclear reactors, this amounts to four megawatts of peak power.

For America

Meta does not disclose how much money it is paying, according to Terrapower's announcement. The contractually fixed sum is intended to cover the “early development steps” for two SMRs. Their location is to be determined “in the coming months.” The order “strengthens America's leadership in energy technology,” rejoices Meta's Head of Energy, Urvi Parekh. Until November 2024, she was responsible for “Clean Energy” at the corporation.

Terrapower presents itself as a “green” company because the nuclear reactors produce only low emissions on-site. However, the small nuclear reactors are no more environmentally friendly than larger nuclear power plants, as the disposal of nuclear waste is equally problematic. The half-life of plutonium-239 produced in the breeder reactor is more than 24,000 years.

Meta Platforms is not alone with this order. Google is also investing in the development of SMRs with molten salt cooling. Amazon relies on SMRs with gas cooling. And Microsoft has commissioned the revival of a decommissioned, conventional nuclear power plant.

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