B.ill Gates is completely focused on nuclear energy. Sixteen years ago, the brains behind Microsoft founded TerraPower with an equally visionary goal: to revolutionize America’s energy system and combat climate change. The company would do this with a seemingly simple solution: replacing water with liquid sodium as the reactor’s main coolant. Construction of the first power plant invested by Gates started this summer $1 billion.

TerraPower’s facility will be smaller and safer than traditional nuclear power plants. boiling point of sodium eight times bigger more than water, so it can remove heat more efficiently from the core of the reactor. It is also a lower risk of explosion due to its ability to operate at lower pressure levels compared to water. Of course, sodium is not without its disadvantages: burns in contact with air and explodes when it touches water, that is, any system in which it operates needs to be brought under control; A leak could mean bad news. The company this June broke new ground about what could happen world’s first such a reactor to test this technology. “While these first-of-its-kind projects are large and risky, they are too important to our future not to act,” Gates said. wrote On his blog after the groundbreaking ceremony in Kemmerer, Wyo. If all goes as planned, the facility Will open in 2030.

But while the switch may not be turned on for at least another five years, the project is already transforming the local community. Kemmerer’s economy was once dominated by coal; it is now a dying industry as the country transitions to a clean economy. Today TerraPower is providing new jobs; 1,600—building a more sustainable future.