During an appearance on Face the Nation this Sunday, billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates signaled that lawmakers in Washington D.C. may be making a renewed push for nuclear energy in the coming months.
Gates is reportedly building a nuclear power plant in the State of Wyoming under a company that he co-founded called Terrapower.
The construction of that nuclear power plant started just last week. The plant will utilize sodium cooling rather than water, a technique which is supposedly going to make the process safer.
Gates Is Confident About The Future Of Nuclear Energy
The billionaire told CBS News that he is ‘quite confident’ that the current construction of the Wyoming nuclear plant will continue regardless of which political Party scores a victory in the November 2024 Election.
Gates told Face the Nation,
“Their support for nuclear power is very impressive in both parties. Of all the climate-related work I’m doing, I’d say the one that has the most bipartisan energy behind it is actually this nuclear work.”
Gates claimed during his interview that both political parties in Washington D.C. support nuclear energy for different reasons. The Microsoft founder claimed that Republicans support nuclear energy because of energy security and exports, while Democrats see nuclear power as a clean energy issue.
The tech kingpin told CBS on Sunday,
“Nuclear really is a special. Not because it’s green, there are people who don’t value that part of it all, I wish they would. They value it because of the US leadership. And you really don’t want the nuclear reactors around the world, made by our adversaries, because it’s economically a huge job creator.”
President Joe Biden also signed a law in March that allocates $100 million to nuclear workforce training programs at universities. The House of Representatives also passed the ADVANCE Act in March, which will expand the use of nuclear energy in the United States and abroad.
It appears that there is an ongoing push for nuclear energy in America, and it’s safe to say that Bill Gates may be behind the push.
