Bill Gates is backing Wyoming's first nuclear plant

A company backed by Bill Gates is planning to build a small nuclear power plant in Wyoming on the site of a coal-powered plant that is shutting down.

TerraPower this week announced that Kemmerer, Wyoming, would be the site of the first nuclear plant using its Natrium technology — a type of advanced nuclear technology that is designed to be smaller and more flexible in terms of output than current nuclear plants in the U.S. fleet. 

The startup hopes that the $4 billion project, nearly half of which will be funded by the government, will serve as a proof of concept and lead to the deployment of many new nuclear plants, while adding reliable — and carbon-free — power to a grid that is shedding fossil fuels.