TerraPower, a nuclear innovation company, and Meta announced today an agreement to develop up to 8 Natrium reactor 1 and energy storage system plants in the United States, according to a news release. This would provide Meta with up to 2.8 GW of carbon-free, baseload energy, with the Natrium technology’s innovative built-in energy storage system providing the capacity to boost total output to 4 GW of power. Under the commercial agreement, Meta will provide funding to support the deployment of the Natrium plants, with delivery of initial units as early as 2032. This is Meta’s largest support of advanced nuclear technologies to date.

The agreement supports the early development activities for two new Natrium units with rights for energy provided to Meta for up to six additional Natrium units. Each Natrium reactor provides 345 MW of baseload power, with built-in energy storage that can ramp up to 500 MW for over five hours. A dual Natrium unit can provide 690 MW of firm power, and up to 1 GW of dispatchable electricity. The companies will target identification of a specific site for the initial dual reactor unit in the coming months.

The Natrium technology is the first mover in the advanced reactor sector and is leading the industry in its commercial readiness to support growing energy demand for data centers, according to the release. TerraPower began construction on the first commercial-scale, advanced nuclear project in the United States, which is expected to be complete in 2030.

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