Bill Gates & UK

Bill Gates enters race to build mini-nuclear reactors in Britain. Competition from billionaire’s company TerraPower threatens blow for Rolls-Royce. A company founded by Bill Gates has submitted a bid to build mini-nuclear reactors in Britain, dealing a potential blow to Rolls-Royce’s hopes of dominating the domestic market. Seattle-based TerraPower has written to the Government outlining its intention to submit its reactor design for regulatory approval. The move kickstarts efforts by the US company to enter an increasingly competitive market to build small modular reactors (SMR), which are expected to play a key role in the UK’s shift to cleaner energy. The Microsoft billionaire’s company has developed a reactor, called Natrium, that uses a molten sodium heat storage system that allows it to rapidly ramp up its power output at peak times. Natrium is the Latin word for sodium which has the chemical symbol Na. Chris Levesque, TerraPower chief executive, said: “I am incredibly excited to begin the process of licensing the Natrium technology in the UK. Rolls-Royce had hoped to corner UK market with its small modular reactors. While TerraPower is not involved in the competition for the UK’s SMR contract, the potential entrant of a new deep-pocketed rival into the market will pose a fresh challenge to Rolls-Royce’s plans.