Wyoming is just over two weeks away from beginning construction on the much-anticipated Bill Gates-backed Natrium plant, the nation’s first miniaturized nuclear reactor for commercial power. And a Gillette-based company in the Cowboy State’s coal heartland has won a prized contract to begin the work in southwestern Wyoming.
Gillette-based Earth Work Solutions, a 54-year-old stalwart in the coal-rich Powder River Basin with expertise in dirt moving for surface mines, railroads and other road and construction projects, received a $10 million contract from engineering giant Bechtel Corp. to begin excavation work on the Natrium project.
The announcement Wednesday by Earth Work is significant in many ways, said Earth Work CEO Tyler Miller.
The groundbreaking that is expected to begin May 20 is the first tangible evidence that the United States is embracing a new source of power that could one day dot the electrical grid as a replacement for coal- and gas-fired generation.
“This is a demonstration project, and if it proves out to be a good, viable alternate energy source — safe, efficient and continuous — then they’re going to build more,” with millions of dollars in follow-on subcontract work possible, Miller told Cowboy State Daily.
Just The Beginning
Last month, the Bill Gates-backed TerraPower LLC filed a construction permit with the U.S. Regulatory Commission to build a $1 billion miniaturized commercial nuclear reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
It will be the first commercial nuclear reactor to be built in the United States in more than a dozen years.
And while a technical review of TerraPower’s novel nuclear reactor design could take a few years to get NRC approval, construction on some of the nonnuclear elements is expected to begin May 20, Miller said.
Bechtel, a Reston, Virginia-based global engineering and construction firm that is among the largest in the world, selected Earth Work to begin site preparation for the demonstration plant located adjacent to the retiring Naughton coal-fired power plant and a sprawling surface mining operation for coal, Miller said.
“It represents a diversification of our state’s energy portfolio, and is something that is going to happen,” Miller said. “The work represents a first step of this nuclear work happening in Wyoming.”
The Natrium reactor being built in Kemmerer is based on TerraPower and GE Hitachi technology, and the Natrium demonstration project, led by TerraPower, marks a significant milestone in the advancement of nuclear power in the U.S, Miller said.
The Earth Work contract is for site development work on the sodium test and fill facility, the first building being built on the Natrium site.
TerraPower, which has about $1 billion in private funding and $2 billion in backing from the U.S. Department of Energy, hopes to complete construction of the sodium-cooled design for the power plant by 2030.
‘It Is A Big Deal’
Miller said the significance of building the nuclear plant can’t be understated, especially since the federal government is taking steps through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to tighten the grip on coal-fired plants and possibly push the relevance of coal as an income stream to the backburner in America.
“It is a big deal,” Miller said of work to build the nuclear demonstration plant. “There is no nuclear power in Wyoming as an energy source.”
The economic jolt that the work will provide is expected to bring hundreds of workers to the Kemmerer region.
As the TerraPower nuclear demonstration plant prepares to break ground in Kemmerer, the town of 2,500 is preparing for up to 1,600 jobs that could come with it.
Miller said that his company has an initial workforce of 40 who will descend on the community to provide grading, build conduits and drainage systems, access roads and sediment control to prevent runoff of soil from leaving the site.
The plant will be built next to a Union Pacific rail line west of Highway 189.
Earth Work Diversification
Miller said that the Bechtel award for the construction work could be transformative for his small business with less than $40 million in annual revenue.
The company was formed in 1970 as Osborne Brothers Construction as a service company exclusive to the oilfield industry. It later expanded into work for coal mines in the Powder River Basin, major railroad projects, state highways, abandoned mine reclamation and other projects.
Since 2006, Miller has owned Earth Work Solutions, according to the company’s website.
Miller said the Bechtel contract to help with the site development in Kemmerer represents a major diversification gambit for his business.
The Kemmerer work for Bechtel also underscores another point with non-Wyomingites, he said.
“It’s showing people outside Wyoming who want to come to Wyoming that we have a lot of competent and hardworking companies here to handle their needs, and the work can be done by Wyoming contractors and doesn’t need to be outsourced to out-of-state contractors,” he said.
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
