Taxpayers are providing $2 billion to help billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett build a first-of-its-kind nuclear power plant 5 miles outside Kemmerer, Wyoming. The TerraPower Natrium project represents what the company calls an equal public-private partnership, though critics question why wealthy backers need government funding to complete the facility.
Workers are assembling the small-scale reactor designed to be quicker to build and bring online than traditional plants twice its size. TerraPower aims to begin making electricity in the next four years as part of the Trump administration's push to diversify the U.S. energy economy by building dozens of new nuclear power reactors that will feed power-hungry data centers and manufacturers.
Economic Impact and Community Division
The project is bringing thousands of construction workers to the remote area and buoying businesses including Fossil Fuel Coffee Co., the Super 8 motel and Scroungy Moose Pizza. It's happening as coal mines are headed for closure and good-paying jobs are otherwise scarce. About 1,600 temporary construction jobs will ultimately give way to as many as 300 permanent ones for running the power plant, according to Natrium.
Janet Lively, 41, assistant manager behind the Fossil Fuel Coffee Co. counter in downtown Kemmerer, said the community is split. "You're either opposed to it or in favor," she said.
Charlotte Sherbeyn, 59, welcomes the economic boom promised by Natrium's boosters but questions the funding arrangement. "I don't understand why billionaires like Gates need public funding to complete these projects," she said. "I'm just not a huge Bill Gates fan. He only cares about him. It's just a dollar sign to him."
Michelle Pollard, 61, a Kemmerer coal mine employee, offered a different view. "I've lived and breathed that coal mine for 35 years and I love it," she said. "But you have to change with the times and I'm glad they picked Kemmerer. Things have to evolve."
Trump Administration's Nuclear Push
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement, "America's nuclear renaissance is underway because of President Trump's bold vision and ambitious goals." He added, "Advanced nuclear technologies will help power the next generation of American industry, strengthen our energy security, and ensure the United States remains the world's nuclear innovation leader."
Four other new small-scale test nuclear reactors recently demonstrated success at the Idaho National Laboratory to meet Trump's self-imposed July 4 deadline to mark the country's 250th birthday.
TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque said the partnership was created to help build out this new industry in order to scale a fleet of new reactors. "This really is the beginning of a whole new era of nuclear energy," he said. "This is the first plant, but we're going to build more than a hundred of these things around the world."
Project Timeline and Safety Concerns
Workers began preparing the non-nuclear parts of the facility 2 years ago and broke ground on the nuclear site in April. Contractors are also finishing a towering testing and fueling facility. The reactor building isn't yet under construction, and there's no nuclear fuel on the site yet.
Sherbeyn said she worries a nuclear meltdown at the Natrium plant could trigger a broader catastrophe, given the coal and natural gas beneath the ground and the Yellowstone Caldera 260 miles north. "If that blows up, we're done," she said.
Edwin Lyman, a physicist and director of nuclear power safety for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said his No. 1 concern is that this push isn't being inspired by genuine innovation in nuclear power or any perceived interest in nuclear power by the public. "It's being driven by ideology that somehow nuclear power hasn't gotten its due, and that's because the government has been over-regulating it, that the dangers have been overstated, and that's what's been holding it back," he said. "The fact is the industry doesn't have a good track record, and they blame everyone else for their own poor performance."
The site is just outside Kemmerer, where coal helped build the state and today powers a significant portion of Wyoming's economy. About 4% of all jobs are either directly or indirectly linked to coal mining. Trump won Lincoln County, home to Kemmerer, with 83.5% of the vote 2 years ago. The state exports 60% of the electricity it generates. Several coal-fired power plants are owned by Buffett's PacifiCorp, which has 2.1 million customers across six western states.
Nuclear Fuel and Industry Context
The Natrium reactor uses a special kind of refined uranium that's more concentrated than typical nuclear fuels, but still weaker than what's used for bombs. Wyoming is home to large uranium deposits that state leaders hope can one day power reactors across the country.
About 100 reactors are still operating from the nuclear expansion of the 1960s and 1970s, and nuclear power still provides about 20% of the country's electricity. The 1979 partial meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island, the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown and the 2011 Fukushima leak helped sustain public fear of nuclear energy.
Levesque said what changed about 10 years ago was with the concern about climate and CO2 emissions, a lot of liberal folks, especially young liberals, really got interested in nuclear. He added that nuclear had "this great safety record" and that older generations had grown up with stigma from the 1970s.
Pollard said she's been impressed with the quality of the engineers and other workers TerraPower has hired and said she's comfortable Gates has the best interests of people at heart. She said Gates has visited the project multiple times, which she sees as a sign of his earnest commitment to Kemmerer. Since going down to part-time at the mine, Pollard has opened "3 ZERO 7 Place" soda shop, a reference to the state's sole area code. "Kemmerer is kind of used to boom and bust," she said. "You can't have growth without some short-term pain."
Why This Matters:
The $2 billion in taxpayer assistance for a project backed by two of America's wealthiest individuals raises fundamental questions about the proper role of government in energy development. While the Trump administration frames this as necessary infrastructure investment to maintain U.S. nuclear leadership and energy security, the arrangement blurs the line between public support for critical infrastructure and subsidizing private enterprise. The project's success or failure will influence whether dozens more reactors receive similar taxpayer backing, potentially committing billions more in public funds to an industry with a troubled track record. For Kemmerer, the transition from coal to nuclear represents both economic opportunity and risk—temporary construction jobs don't guarantee long-term prosperity, and the community's deep division reflects legitimate concerns about safety, accountability, and whether billionaire-backed projects truly serve local interests or simply transfer risk from private investors to taxpayers and host communities.