Turning on a nuclear plant is a little more complicated than flipping a few switches.
That’s why TerraPower’s flagship training center — which will be in Kemmerer where its first small nuclear reactor is being built — is going to be finished a full three years before the plant, by the end of 2026.
The lead time will be needed to ramp up hiring for the Bill Gates-backed company’s first Natrium reactor, but the center is not going to train people only for the Kemmerer operation.
TerraPower already has its sights set on the world, said Vice President of Governmental Affairs Andrew Miller. The training facility will be a key element in ramping up for an international rollout of Natrium reactors.
“We will have Natriums all over the world, and (their employees) will all fly to Kemmerer to train and test on this facility,” Miller said. “We will only be building (a training center) here in Wyoming, and it will also be a space for our licensed operators to practice.
“We’ll have space for mechanics, for instructors and so on and so forth.”
In addition to training rooms and a simulator, there will be various laboratories, including electrical and instrumentation control, mechanical and scientific.
A portion of the 30,000-square-foot facility will also be dedicated as a visitor center, along with an auditorium to host groups and conduct programs.
Nuclear training, meanwhile, is expected to take 18 months for each of the dozens of reactor operators needed to run each Natrium plant.
Meanwhile, as all that is going on in Kemmerer, TerraPower has already thrown its name in the hat for building a Natrium reactor in the United Kingdom. There, it’s competing with other companies like Rolls Royce for a contract with Great British Nuclear.
Economic Waves
Construction on the Kemmerer training facility is already creating visible change at the TerraPower site, City Administrator Brian Muir confirmed with Cowboy State Daily on Friday, and excitement among investors is building.
Muir has been told there will be at least 36 operators for Kemmerer’s Natrium plant once it’s fully operational.
“It’s a 24/7 operation,” he said. “So, you need to have multiple shifts of people running the reactor.”
Those people will all be moving to Kemmerer and looking to buy homes, Muir added, along with all the other jobs the plant is going to support, at least 250 in all.
“This is their first advanced nuclear reactor,” he said. “And because this is a first, it’s an estimate. So, it’s more likely from that there’s going to be more than 250 jobs. It could be up to 300 permanent jobs.”
Those jobs will have a huge ripple effect for Kemmerer’s economic development, Muir added.
“Usually, you take a multiplier on those kinds of jobs and times it by at least three, because there’s other jobs that come because of it,” he said.
That doesn’t include any ancillary nuclear companies that could wind up in Kemmerer.
“There is going to be some manufacturing,” Muir said. “They’re going to build some of the components off-site, potentially in Wyoming, at other places nearby.”
Those manufacturing jobs might not necessarily be in Kemmerer itself, Muir acknowledged, but will be an overall boost for the area and state.
If the plants locate anywhere in Wyoming, he counts that as a win.
“We are trying to prepare for such jobs by creating an industrial park,” he said. “We do have a light industrial park already, with some vacancies, but we’re also looking at building a new one, potentially. So that’s something to think about.”
Muir is also thinking about the community’s coal mining jobs and hopes for new opportunities there.
“The contract with Rocky Mountain Power is done at the end of this year,” he said. “So, they’re looking for other uses for the coal that’s here, exporting, and doing everything they can at the coal mine, I know, to try and keep those jobs here in Kemmerer.
“But that’s the unknown question on the economic front, is what’s going to happen to the coal miners.”
Job Postings Have Already Begun
A groundbreaking was held last week in Kemmerer, as well as a town hall to answer community questions.
That brought not only company officials and Wyoming dignitaries, but also West Virginia’s Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who sits on the committee overseeing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Miller said TerraPower plans to continue offering strong community engagement to ensure people have a way to get accurate information and air concerns.
“We know companies have come and gone and they’ve not fulfilled what they’ve said,” Miller said. “So that’s why we’ve spent so much time, and we’re trying to be just showing and not telling.”
Ongoing construction activity is a strong message that the opportunity is for real, Miller added, helping to address the “I’ll believe it when I see it” attitude that has come from some.
“You can drive by the plant and see the construction,” he said. “The tent is up. We have bulldozers there. The (meteorological evaluation) towers are going up.”
The training facility construction is on a 14-month timeline, Miller said, and should be complete by the end of 2026, with training set to start in 2027.
The training program will follow Nuclear Regulatory Commission guidelines, Miller said.
Dozens of jobs have already been posted, though only six so far in Kemmerer.
Most of the company’s job listings are in the state of Washington and appear to be related to efforts to build out Natrium plants across America and around the globe.
These listings range from cost estimator, digital communications manager and marketing director to fuel development and testing, lead analyst, and systems design engineer.
Kemmerer’s six jobs all have six-figure salaries. They include two that look like they revolve around training, the operations training instructor and a direct report, called the senior reactor operator.
The other four positions include operations and maintenance procedure supervisor, senior contract specialist, senior manager nuclear quality assurance, and test and fill facility manager.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
