Ground was broken on the new Kemmerer Training Center (KTC) for TerraPower last week as the nuclear company is moving forward with construction of the 30,000 square-foot facility. The Natrium plant will be the first of its kind after selecting Kemmerer as the location in 2021. 

Chris Levesque, TerraPower President and CEO met with community members and praised the area and the state for what has been accomplished so far. 

“It was great to be with the community,” he stated. “It’s been four years since we announced we were coming to Wyoming and coming to Lincoln County. We started construction last June and worked through the entire winter on our test facility. We had zero lost-time accidents which we are really proud of.”

The KTC will provide training for the “future workforce for the advance nuclear industry as it will host all Natrium plant operation training activities and support all operator accredited program,” the company stated in a previous release. “The KTC will house the Natrium Training Simulator, laboratories for electrical and Instrumentation & Control, mechanical and scientific laboratories, training classrooms, an auditorium and more.”

“We started construction on the Kemmerer Training Center which is along Highway 189 which will train our future operators,” Levesque told SVI. “It will also serve as a visitors center for the Natrium reactor so people and field trips can learn about the plant.”

Residents should expect to see more visible construction soon. 

“We are moving closer to starting construction on the energy island by the end of the year and then the nuclear island at the beginning of 2026,” Levesque continued. “That’s waiting on the approval of the construction license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC). They’ve informed us they are ahead of schedule on that. Their review will be done by December. That’s going to allow nuclear construction to begin in the first quarter of next year. We are getting great permitting work done from the USNRC as well as the state of Wyoming and the Department of Environmental Quality. We are realizing we made a great decision when we decided to build this first plant in Wyoming.”

Levesque reiterated the company’s involvement with the local area.  

“This was the first town meeting where we were able to have TerraPower folks who’ve moved to Kemmerer stand up and speak,” he added. “To say we’re here and explain [details] at the high school and explain what kind of jobs we need. They’ve been able to advise young people on what kinds of programs they should pursue at the community college. We’re happy to be here.”

Lincoln County Commissioner, Kent Connelly, noted the importance of the KTC for the industry.  

“The training center is something we are very excited about,” he said. “That’s not just for that facility. It’s large enough to accommodate all future growth of whatever TErraPower does not just in Wyoming but with worldwide training. There will be a lot of opportunity here with that training facility.”

According to TerraPower, the Natrium design features a 345 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor with a patented molten salt-based energy storage system. The storage technology can boost the system’s output to 500 MW of power when needed as it is designed to keep base output steady, ensuring constant reliability, and can quickly ramp up when demand peaks. The decoupled design separates major structures into two independent islands — nuclear and energy — which significantly reduces the quantity of specialized materials, cutting plant costs and accelerating construction timelines.