KEMMERER, Wyoming ‒ For generations, this tiny town in the quiet southwestern corner of Wyoming has long been known for three things: massive below-ground coal deposits, rocky outcroppings full of fossilized fish and the original JCPenney store.
But 5 miles outside of the historic downtown, workers are building a first-of-its-kind nuclear power plant backed by billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Taxpayers are providing $2 billion in assistance to assemble the small-scale reactor. It is designed to be quicker to build and bring online than traditional plants twice its size.
Welcomed with open arms by at least half of the approximately 21,000 area residents, TerraPower's "Natrium" project aims to begin making electricity in the next four years. It's a key 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.
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