Bill Gates' nuclear venture hits snag amid U.S. restrictions on China deals

[Swordsmyth]

TerraPower LLC, a nuclear energy venture chaired by Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates, is seeking a new partner for early-stage trials of its technology after new U.S. rules forced it to abandon an agreement with China, company officials told the Wall Street Journal.TerraPower reached an agreement with state-owned China National Nuclear Corp in 2017 to build an experimental nuclear reactor south of Beijing. But Gates wrote in an essay published late last week that TerraPower is unlikley to follow through on its plans in the face of new U.S. restrictions on technology deals with China.
The Bellevue, Washington-based company is now unsure which country it will work with to conduct trials of its technology, which is designed to use depleted uranium as fuel for nuclear reactors in a bid to improve safety and costs, company officials told the Journal.

More at: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bill-gates-nuclear-venture-hits-205553461.html

 

[kpitcher]

It's a shame we can't get one of these built in the US. Newer tech makes them far safer than the older designs, and better for the environment than almost anything else.

I'm in Michigan and we have waste stored in concrete casks stored on the banks of the great lakes. If we had newer reactors that waste could be used for energy production instead.

 

[Schifference]

I remember reading many years ago how plastic is mostly a petroleum product. I remember reading about how used tires are such a growing concern. We are filling up our planet with waste that could be burned at controlled temperatures that burn all the toxic gases to create power. All waste should be utilized for its best most useful purpose.