First, TerraPower has discovered that the traveling wave didn’t travel so well and that it would not evenly burn the depleted uranium in the “candle.” Second, and partly as a result, it needed to change the design to reshuffle the fuel rods — and do that robotically while keeping the reactor running. Third, it has struggled to find a metal strong enough to protect the fuel rods from a bombardment of neutrons more intense than those commonly used in reactors — and for a much longer period of time.<doc-sep>In his year-end letter, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says his to-do list for 2019 includes persuading U.S. leaders to regain America’s leading role in nuclear energy research and embrace advanced nuclear technologies such as the concept being advanced by his own TerraPower venture. “The world needs to be working on lots of solutions to stop climate change,” Gates wrote in the wide-ranging letter, released Saturday night. “Advanced nuclear is one, and I hope to persuade U.S. leaders to get into the game.” Gates acknowledged that tighter U.S. export restrictions, put in place by the Trump administration, have virtually ruled out TerraPower’s grand plan to test its traveling-wave nuclear technology in China. “We had hoped to build a pilot project in China, but recent policy changes here in the U.S. have made that unlikely,” Gates wrote. He said “we may be able to build it in the United States” if regulations are updated and the investment climate for nuclear power improves. Bellevue, Wash.-based TerraPower struck a deal with China National Nuclear Corp. back in 2015 to build the plant, with the aim of demonstrating the feasibility of fourth-generation traveling-wave nuclear reactors, which are designed to use depleted uranium as fuel and minimize waste. At the time, TerraPower said the plant could be built by 2022. Last year, a consortium of five Chinese nuclear power companies said 1 billion yuan ($153 million) would be set aside for technology development. Experts had predicted that the Trump administration’s export limits were likely to put a crimp in TerraPower’s plans for the China project. In November, Morning Consult quoted TerraPower’s chief financial officer, Marcia Burkey, as saying that October’s announcement of the new export restrictions caught the company “by complete surprise.” In his letter, Gates wrote that nuclear power had to play a greater role in America’s energy mix due to concerns about climate change. He noted that global emissions of greenhouse gases have resumed their upward trend. “For me, that just reinforces the fact that the only way to prevent the worst climate-change scenarios is to get some breakthroughs in clean energy,” he said. Gates said power planners should take advantage of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power “wherever it makes sense.” “But solar and wind are intermittent, and we are unlikely to have super-cheap batteries anytime soon that would allow us to store sufficient energy for when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing,” he wrote. “Besides, electricity accounts for only 25 percent of all emissions. We need to solve the other 75 percent too.” Gates and other industry leaders, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, have been funding a wide variety of clean-energy innovations through Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1 billion investment fund. “The companies we chose are run by brilliant people and show a lot of promise for taking innovative clean-energy ideas out of the lab and getting them to market,” Gates wrote. But he insisted that nuclear power was needed as well: “Next year I will speak out more about how the U.S. needs to regain its leading role in nuclear power research. (This is unrelated to my work with the foundation.) “Nuclear is ideal for dealing with climate change, because it is the only carbon-free, scalable energy source that’s available 24 hours a day. The problems with today’s reactors, such as the risk of accidents, can be solved through innovation. “The United States is uniquely suited to create these advances with its world-class scientists, entrepreneurs, and investment capital. “Unfortunately, America is no longer the global leader on nuclear energy that it was 50 years ago. To regain this position, it will need to commit new funding, update regulations, and show investors that it’s serious.” The United States still ranks as the world’s largest producer of nuclear power, with 98 operational reactors generating total net electrical capacity of nearly 100,000 megawatts, according to figures from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Power Reactor Information System. France ranks second with 58 reactors, and China comes in third with 46. However, the future for nuclear power looks quite different: The World Nuclear Association reports that 13 new reactors are currently under construction in China, compared with just two in the U.S.<doc-sep>Bill Gates said in his year-end letter last month that he planned to work to persuade U.S. leaders to embrace advanced nuclear technologies as a solution to curbing climate change. That work appears to have begun as The Washington Post reported Friday that Gates is making the rounds on Capitol Hill looking for support — and billions of dollars. Gates founded the Bellevue, Wash.-based TerraPower in 2006, and the venture had been working toward building a pilot project for its traveling-wave nuclear technology in China. Policy regulations put in place by the Trump administration have made that unlikely and Gates is hoping to make his grand plan happen in the U.S. The Post reported, based on accounts from congressional staffers, that the Microsoft co-founder is telling lawmakers that he personally would invest $1 billion and raise $1 billion more in private capital to go along with federal funds for TerraPower’s pilot plan. Gates has reportedly met with lawmakers from both parties, including Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). He also met with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and three other senators last month. Jonah Goldman, of Gates Ventures, stressed to The Post that Gates was not advocating for TerraPower alone. Gates thinks the U.S. has “the best minds, the best lab systems and entrepreneurs willing to take risk,” Goldman told the newspaper. “But what we don’t have is a commitment on Congress’ part.”<doc-sep>Gatekeeper For the last three years, Bill Gates’ nuclear energy company has been working on a pilot project to develop safer and cheaper nuclear power near Beijing. But those plans recently came to a screeching halt — thanks to new regulations from the Department of Energy that restrict nuclear partnerships between America and China, according to The Wall Street Journal. In addition to back-and-forth tariffs on Chinese and American goods, the new restrictions require that any deal on nuclear technology between the two countries comes with strong assurances that it cannot be used for military purposes. Apparently Gates’ company, TerraPower, couldn’t make that promise, forcing it to look for a new partner nation to develop its experimental nuclear reactor. Unfortunately, the pickings are slim — and the derailed deal shows how international tensions can hurt efforts to develop next-generation technology. Nuclear Option TerraPower is trying to build something called a Traveling-Wave Reactor, which would be capable of generating, using, and regenerating its own fuel out of depleted uranium. Advertisement Advertisement While this process would give rise to an era of cheaper, cleaner, and less risky nuclear power, the reactor itself would cost about $1 billion to build, the WSJ reports. That’s more than many of the countries with which TerraPower is legally allowed to partner, such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, could be willing to invest. Home Grown In a blog post wrapping up 2018, Gates wrote that he would consider bringing all of TerraPowers’ operations to the U.S. but that there are too many regulatory hurdles for him to do so at the moment. “The world needs to be working on lots of solutions to stop climate change,” Gates wrote. “Advanced nuclear is one, and I hope to persuade U.S. leaders to get into the game.” READ MORE: Trump’s Tech Battle With China Roils Bill Gates Nuclear Venture [The Wall Street Journal] Advertisement Advertisement More on nuclear power: BILL GATES: U.S. LEADERS MUST EMBRACE NUCLEAR ENERGY As a Futurism reader, we invite you join the Singularity Global Community, our parent company’s forum to discuss futuristic science & technology with like-minded people from all over the world. It’s free to join, sign up now!<doc-sep>
At least for now, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates is pulling back on nuclear power. He hasn't changed his mind on the science—he puts his blame on the Trump Administration's bitter relationship with China. Gates invested in TerraPower in 2011 with the hope of helping to prove the company's core concept: a so-called traveling-wave reactor (TWR) which would run on depleted uranium, as opposed to the enriched uranium commonly used in nuclear plants. The concept is appealing on several levels—not only would its small design lower the currently rising price of nuclear energy, it would actually consume the trash pumped out by today's modern reactors. In 2015, the company signed a deal with the Chinese government to be a small demonstration plant to be constructed by 2022. Since then, it has remained relatively low-profile. In 2017, Gates gave a speech at Peking University saying he was developing nuclear energy that was "dramatically safer and substantially cheaper" than what the world has previously known. From trade to security to environmentalism, the Trump administration has taken an aggressive stance toward the Chinese government. In October 2018, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said that the United States "cannot ignore the national security implications of China’s efforts to obtain nuclear technology outside of established processes of U.S.–China civil nuclear cooperation.” The Department of Energy then announced it would deny any new licenses from U.S. companies wishing to work with the Chinese government, and current licenses would not be given extensions. The department cited the indictment of the Chinese state-owned nuclear corporation in 2017 alongside Taiwanese-American Allen Ho, who was eventually jailed for assisting the Chinese state on nuclear issues. In his year-end letter for 2018, Gates notes that "we had hoped to build a pilot project in China, but recent policy changes here in the U.S. have made that unlikely." Pulling out of the project leaves TerraPower's future uncertain. According to company CEO Chris Levesque, speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the price of a demonstration reactor is around $1 billion. Having to cancel a project worth such an extraordinary amount would likely be the death knell for most new players in any field. Most new players, however, aren't funded by Bill Gates—still valued by Forbes to have a fortune north of $93 billion. In his letter, Gates notes that the company "may be able to build ... in the United States" under certain funding and regulatory conditions. He also announced that he would be taking up the mantle of nuclear energy in a more public way this year in actions unaffiliated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Nuclear is ideal for dealing with climate change," Gates says in his letter, "because it is the only carbon-free, scalable energy source that’s available 24 hours a day." He adds that "problems with today’s reactors, such as the risk of accidents, can be solved through innovation." For now, though, TerraPower's technology looks like it may have to start from scratch. Source: Wall Street Journal