(Reuters) -The Utah Office of Energy Development, TerraPower and land development firm Flagship Companies signed an agreement on Monday to explore sites for a nuclear reactor project and an energy storage plant amid soaring demand for power.
The parties said they expect to make recommendations for a site by the end of the year.
U.S. nuclear power is experiencing a renaissance after decades of stagnation, driven by record demand from data centers used for artificial intelligence technologies and the electrification of industries such as transportation and manufacturing.
The agreement also supports Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox’s Operation Gigawatt, a strategic effort to build an energy ecosystem that serves Utah and the Western U.S., the companies said in a statement.
President Donald Trump signed executive orders in late May, directing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to cut down on regulations and fast-track new licenses for reactors and power plants.
In June, TerraPower had raised $650 million in a funding round that included founder Bill Gates and the venture capital arm of chipmaker Nvidia, and said it expects to get regulatory approval for its $4 billion nuclear reactor next year.
The company’s $4-billion Natrium nuclear reactor is located in Wyoming on the site of an old coal plant.
Bellevue, Washington-based TerraPower has been developing an advanced nuclear reactor that uses liquid sodium as a coolant instead of water.
The Natrium reactor has the added benefit of using significantly less water than the current light water reactor fleet and small modular reactor designs, making it well suited for water-constrained regions, the company said in statement.
(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
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