TerraPower, Bill Gates’ Nuclear Innovation Company, Raises $750 Million
TerraPower, the nuclear innovation company founded by business magnate Bill Gates, announced on Monday that they have completed an equity raise, yielding at least $750 million.
The fundraising was co-led by SK Group and Gates, who’s chairman of the board. SK is one of South Korea’s largest energy providers, the company invested $250 million.
According to a statement from TerraPower, the new funding will be used for the company’s work in advanced nuclear energy technologies and nuclear medicine.
“Whether it’s addressing climate change with carbon-free advanced nuclear energy, or fighting cancer with nuclear isotopes, our team is deploying technology solutions and investors across the world are taking note,” said Chris Levesque, CEO of TerraPower.
TerraPower, along with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, a division of General Electric, is working on developing a commercial version of Natrium reactor technology. The system features a cost-competitive sodium fast reactor combined with a molten salt energy storage system. The system is expected to provide flexible energy and stability and integrate seamlessly into power grids with high penetrations of renewables.
The Natrium project is a collaboration with the US Department of Energy, through the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) award. The award required that TerraPower match 50% of project costs, which is up to $2 billion. The new funds will add to those from existing investors and will support TerraPower’s current implementation efforts.
The other project that the new funding will enhance is the TerraPower Isotopes (TPI) program. The program supports “the transformation of the fight against cancer by advancing the next generation of isotopes.” For this project, TerraPower to innovate ways to extract isotopes that can be used by the pharmaceutical community for the development of drugs that target and treat cancer.
The recent fundraising is one of the largest to date. According to the statement, TerraPower will remain a privately held company.
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