Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon visited TerraPower’s Kemmerer Unit 1 construction site in southern Lincoln County, Wyoming, on October 15, 2026. They toured the project’s Test & Fill facility, saw construction progressing beyond site preparation and received an update on the Natrium advanced nuclear plant.
Kemmerer Unit 1 is designed to pair a sodium-cooled fast reactor with molten-salt energy storage. TerraPower says the project is intended to be the first utility-scale advanced nuclear power plant in the United States. Project reporting puts planned peak electrical output at 500 megawatts, with electricity generation targeted for 2031.
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What the governors saw in Wyoming
A tour of the Test & Fill facility
The governors’ visit took place at the Kemmerer Unit 1 site near Kemmerer, Wyoming. The Test & Fill facility was still under construction when the delegation toured it. TerraPower leaders and other officials briefed the governors on the project’s progress and on the work underway at the site.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox described the visible construction as a milestone: “It’s nice to see it going vertical. This is what we’ve been waiting for. It’s been on paper, it’s been in computers and now it’s real.”
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Why this visit matters
The project is being developed as a first-of-a-kind advanced nuclear plant rather than as a conventional reactor build. The tour gave the three governors a look at physical construction after years of design, licensing and planning work, while underscoring their states’ shared interest in a regional nuclear-energy industry.
What TerraPower’s Natrium reactor is
Sodium-cooled fast reactor
Natrium uses a fast reactor cooled by liquid sodium instead of the water used in today’s conventional nuclear reactors. The reactor is being developed as part of an integrated system in which the nuclear unit supplies steady heat and electricity while the storage system can help adjust electrical output.
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Molten-salt energy storage
The design incorporates molten-salt energy storage alongside the reactor. That storage is intended to give the plant operational flexibility, allowing the facility to support changing grid demand rather than relying only on the reactor’s immediate electrical output.
Planned power and water use
Fox 13 reported a planned peak output of 500 megawatts and a target of beginning electricity generation in 2031. “Peak output” is the project’s stated maximum planned electrical capacity; it is not a guarantee of continuous production at that level.
TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque said the plant is expected to use considerably less water than a water-cooled reactor. The available project information does not provide a final water-consumption figure or an operating test demonstrating that comparison.
Construction and licensing timeline
- June 2024: TerraPower held the groundbreaking for the site’s early, non-nuclear work.
- 2024–2030: Non-nuclear construction is planned to continue, with project materials saying that phase is expected to be complete by 2030.
- April 23, 2026: TerraPower announced the official start of construction after the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a construction permit.
- October 15, 2026: Cox, Little and Gordon toured the construction site and the Test & Fill facility.
- 2031 target: Fox 13 reported the project’s target for generating electricity.
The NRC construction permit is a significant licensing milestone, but it does not make the 2031 generation date certain. A first-of-a-kind plant still has to complete construction, testing, fuel-related and operational approvals, and commissioning before commercial electricity production can begin.
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Why Utah, Idaho and Wyoming are working together
In 2025, the three states signed a memorandum of understanding to coordinate on advanced nuclear energy and related regional needs. The agreement treats the states as participants in an emerging energy corridor rather than as three isolated projects or policy efforts.
Areas covered by the memorandum
- Energy policy and regional infrastructure
- Regulatory and environmental issues
- Federal advocacy
- Grid reliability
- Workforce development
For Utah and Idaho, coordination can help align transmission, suppliers, training and regulatory approaches with Wyoming’s reactor project. For Wyoming, the partnership offers neighboring states as potential collaborators on infrastructure and labor as the project moves from construction toward operation. The memorandum itself does not guarantee that any additional reactor will be built or that a specific power purchase agreement will result.
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Jobs and construction scale
TerraPower materials presented to a state legislative committee in 2026 estimated approximately 1,600 construction jobs and 200 to 250 permanent operating jobs. Those figures are estimates, not a final payroll count, and the operating positions would continue after the construction workforce declines.
| Measure | Project figure | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Planned peak electrical output | 500 megawatts | Reported for the Natrium project in 2026; peak capacity is not the same as constant generation. |
| Construction employment | Approximately 1,600 jobs | Estimate in TerraPower materials presented to a legislative committee in 2026. |
| Permanent operating employment | 200–250 jobs | Estimate in the same 2026 project materials. |
| Non-nuclear construction completion | Planned for 2030 | Project schedule cited in 2026 materials. |
| Target for electricity generation | 2031 | Reported by Fox 13 as a project target, not a guaranteed in-service date. |
What to watch as the project advances
Physical construction and testing
The next visible indicators will be continued construction of the non-nuclear facilities, progress on the Test & Fill building and the transition from structural work to equipment installation and testing. Those steps will show whether the project remains aligned with its 2030 non-nuclear completion plan.
Licensing and commissioning
The construction permit enabled the official construction start, but the plant must still pass the remaining regulatory and commissioning stages before it can generate electricity for the grid. The 2031 date should therefore be read as a target in the current schedule.
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The project information cited for the governors’ tour does not establish a final project cost, demonstrated operating performance or a completed waste-management plan. Those issues remain material questions for utilities, regulators, local communities and the three states as construction proceeds.
The regional significance
Kemmerer Unit 1 is simultaneously a Wyoming construction project and a test of whether advanced nuclear technology can be delivered at utility scale in the United States. The October 2026 tour connected the plant’s on-site progress with the broader 2025 agreement among Utah, Idaho and Wyoming on policy, infrastructure, reliability and workforce planning. If the schedule holds, the project aims to move from construction into electricity generation in 2031 while creating a long-term operating workforce in southern Wyoming.
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