A company backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Toshiba are in early talks to jointly develop a small nuclear reactor, the Japanese electronics giant said Tuesday. The Nikkei business daily earlier reported that the two sides would team up to develop a compact next-generation reactor that can operate for up to 100 years without refuelling to provide emission-free energy.
The daily said the joint development would focus on the Travelling-Wave Reactor (TWR), which consumes depleted uranium as fuel. Current light-water reactors require refuelling every few years. "Toshiba has entered into preliminary talks with TerraPower," said Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori. "We are looking into the possibility of working together." Gates is the principal owner of TerraPower, an expert team based in the US state of Washington that is investigating ways to improve emission-free energy supplies using small nuclear reactors.
Unlike the current reactors at mega power plants, the smaller types could be introduced by cities or states or in developing countries more easily. Ohmori said Gates, together with other TerraPower executives, had visited a Toshiba laboratory for nuclear power research near Tokyo last year.
Ohmori said the two sides had just begun to "exchange information" but stressed that "nothing concrete has been decided on development or investment." Gates is expected to use his personal wealth to back the development of TWRs and his investment could reach several billion dollars, the Nikkei said. The news boosted Toshiba's share price by around four percent Tuesday.
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