Kemmerer is home to the “mother” JCPenney store and will soon be home to the “mother” TerraPower nuclear plant as well.
The synergy of that isn’t lost on TerraPower, which has designed a 35,000-square-foot training center with that very idea of a “mother” ship in mind.
“We’re calling (Kemmerer’s nuclear plant) Unit One for a reason,” TerraPower Director of External Affairs Jeff Navin told Cowboy State Daily. “The training center is going to be unique to Kemmerer. We will use it to train all of the employees at our plant in Kemmerer, but we will also use it as the primary location where we train the operators of future Natrium plants from all over the world.”
The training center will include a control room simulator that will look exactly like the actual control room that TerraPower will eventually build a few hundred yards away.
“The simulator will be built first, and that will allow the plant operators to train on a control panel in a control room that looks exactly like the one we’re going to build, not just at Kemmerer or Unit One, but also at all of our facilities around the world,” Navin said.
That means if and when a Natrium plant is built in England, those English operators will be flying to Kemmerer first, to train on the simulator there, and then take whatever they learn back to their plant in England.
“There will be people from all around the country and all around the world who will come and live in Kemmerer temporarily to get those trainings,” Navin said.
Tourism Component Built In
A tourism component is also getting baked into the new training center, and that’s something that has Mayor Robert Bowen excited.
“We’re already known nationwide for JCPenney, being the first community for that, and for our fossils,” Bowen said. “With the nuclear plant open to the public for tourism, that’s going to be fun. I’m very grateful TerraPower has chosen Kemmerer to be the leader in this new technology. We’re honored to be the flagship location for their nuclear fleet.”
Having a steady stream of people coming from all over the world to train for TerraPower jobs will also show the community off, Bowen added, and he hopes they’ll be inspired to want to return.
“Kemmerer is already a world-wide destination for fossils,” he said. “We’re one of the few places in the world — not the only — but one of the few places in the world where people can come, dig their own fossils — vertebrate fossils — out of private quarries and be allowed to keep the fossils. And then having the JCPenney mother store located in Kemmerer just brings different sets of tourists here, just for that.”
Navin said the training center will also have a community component as well, and will be open to school and community groups that want to learn about nuclear power.
“I would certainly suspect that, going forward, everyone who graduates from Kemmerer High School is going to have their field trip to the power plant,” Navin said. “They will have their opportunity to visit the control room and learn about not just the Natrium plant in Kemmerer, but nuclear science and the like. So, it’s an exciting addition that will be unique just to the Kemmerer plant, and it’s also going to provide some economic benefits for the community.”
Bowen said he hopes that leads too future partnerships with Western Wyoming Community College, which is already standing up a nuclear technology program.
A Head Start
The training center got its Wyoming thumbs up from the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council last month, making TerraPower the first advanced nuclear reactor in the nation to get its state permits in line.
It’s not just another in the string of firsts for the company though. The timing of the permit is particularly important for TerraPower, Navin said. It ensures the plant’s training component is ready for training, ahead of the nuclear portion of the plant’s construction.
Construction on the huge training center should start sometime late this year, after the sodium test and fill facility is completed
“Our winter is turning out to be a little colder, but so far we’ve been able to maintain our timeline,” Navin said. “And we hope to continue to work on that, and then, as we make a little progress there, we think that we will be able to start work on the training center later this year.”
The nuclear part of TerraPower’s plant won’t start until after the company has its federal permits in place, Navin added, but having state permits for all the non-nuclear parts allows parallel construction of non-nuclear parts, speeding up the overall timeframe for the plant, greatly reducing costs.
Navin added that the company has no regrets about its choice to start building the first of its Natrium plants in Wyoming.
“Probably surprising no one, we found Wyoming very easy to work with,” Navin said. “This is a state that knows how to build big things. They’re not intimidated or afraid. So, we are pleased and have no regrets about our decision to build this plant in partnership with Wyoming.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
