TerraPower, a nuclear innovation company, Evergy and the Kansas Department of Commerce, recently announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore siting TerraPower’s flagship technology, the Natrium® reactor1 and energy storage system, within Evergy’s service territory in Kansas.
This agreement will enable the collaboration between the entities to evaluate site-specific characteristics for a potential advanced nuclear power plant, as well as explore the Natrium plant’s technical design and ability to support Evergy’s customers.
Site selection will be based on an evaluation of a variety of factors including community support, the physical characteristics of the site, the ability of the site to obtain a license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and access to existing infrastructure.
"My administration has always supported an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach when meeting the energy needs of Kansas citizens and businesses,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “We need to explore all available sources to power the future of our great state, and I'm pleased we're using innovative methods to do just that."
“Our Natrium technology features a next-generation reactor with enhanced safety and efficiency, paired with utility-scale storage to ensure grid resilience,” said TerraPower president and chief executive officer Chris Levesque. “The TerraPower team is excited to advance conversations with Evergy, state leaders and local communities on the opportunities that the Natrium reactor and energy storage system brings to Kansas."
The Natrium technology features a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system. The storage technology can boost the system’s output to 500 MW of power when needed as it is designed to keep base output steady, ensuring constant reliability, and can quickly ramp up when demand peaks — it is the only advanced reactor design with this capability, the nuclear company said.
TerraPower broke ground on the first Natrium project in 2024 in Wyoming and is positioned to be America’s next commercial-scale nuclear power plant.
