Bill Gates’ nuclear reactor company TerraPower is planning to begin construction next year on the so-called “energy island” for its Natrium power plant with construction of the reactor and the “nuclear island” beginning in 2026, Gates said.

The energy island is where the steam turbines and other machinery that actually generate power will sit. The reactor itself will eventually be part of the nuclear island – the heart of the plant.

Gates posted an update online after TerraPower said earlier this week it had held a ceremony to mark the start of construction for its demonstration Natrium advanced nuclear plant complex near a retiring coal plant at Kemmerer, Wyoming.

A spokesperson for TerraPower told NucNet that the inaugural dig, attended by Gates, who is also company chairman, chief executive Chris Levesque and Wyoming governor Mark Gordon, was for the non-nuclear part of the plant, the first part of which will be a sodium test and fill facility.