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America's energy future? Gates, Buffett and a Wyoming town go nuclear
In a town built on coal, a next-generation reactor could reveal whether Trump's nuclear push can deliver jobs, power growth and a new energy future.
Trevor HughesUSA TODAY
Updated Aug. 9, 2026, 8:16 a.m. ET
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KEMMERER, Wyoming ‒ For generations, this tiny town in the quiet southwestern corner of Wyoming has long been known for three things: massive below-ground coal deposits, rocky outcroppings full of fossilized fish and the original JCPenney store.
But 5 miles outside of the historic downtown, workers are building a first-of-its-kind nuclear power plant backed by billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Taxpayers are providing $2 billion in assistance to assemble the small-scale reactor. It is designed to be quicker to build and bring online than traditional plants twice its size.
Welcomed with open arms by at least half of the approximately 21,000 area residents, TerraPower's "Natrium" project aims to begin making electricity in the next four years. It's a key part of the Trump administration's push to diversify the U.S. energy economy by building dozens of new nuclear power reactors that will feed power-hungry data centers and manufacturers.
The small-scale nuclear project is bringing thousands of construction workers to the remote area, buoying businesses, including Fossil Fuel Coffee Co., the Super 8 motel and Scroungy Moose Pizza. It's happening at a time when the coal mines are headed for closure and good-paying jobs are otherwise scarce. And while some community members remain deeply skeptical of both the nuclear project and the wealthy men behind it, others are optimistic.
"I've lived and breathed that coal mine for 35 years and I love it," said Kemmerer coal mine employee Michelle Pollard, 61. "But you have to change with the times and I’m glad they picked Kemmerer."
In addition to the Natrium project, four other new small-scale test nuclear reactors recently demonstrated success at the Idaho National Laboratory to meet Trump's self-imposed July 4 deadline to mark the country's 250th birthday.
"America's nuclear renaissance is underway because of President Trump’s bold vision and ambitious goals," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. "Advanced nuclear technologies ... will help power the next generation of American industry, strengthen our energy security, and ensure the United States remains the world’s nuclear innovation leader.”
Backers say carbon-free nuclear energy can provide reliable baseload power without contributing to climate change. In addition to civilian projects like Natrium, the White House has also ordered military officials to ramp up their use of reactors that can be flown to remote bases.
Some critics worry the country is rushing to deploy risky and unnecessary new technology at a time when wind, solar and battery power are increasingly affordable and reliable. They say the environmental risks from nuclear fuel aren't worth it, and that remote nuclear power plants and their radioactive waste could more easily be targeted by terrorists trying to create a dirty bomb, especially after the Trump administration softened security requirements.
"My No. 1 concern is that this push is not being inspired by genuine innovation in nuclear power or any perceived interest in nuclear power by the public," said Edwin Lyman, a physicist and director of nuclear power safety for the Union of Concerned Scientists. "It's being driven by ideology that somehow nuclear power hasn't gotten its due, and that's because the government has been over-regulating it, that the dangers have been overstated, and that's what's been holding it back."
He added: "The fact is the industry doesn't have a good track record, and they blame everyone else for their own poor performance. And, unfortunately, those issues are being overlooked in this new political push for nuclear power."
Changing with the times
To understand nuclear power in Wyoming, you have to start with coal. Coal helped build the Equality State, and today it powers a significant portion of its economy: About 4% of all the jobs are either directly or indirectly linked to coal mining.
But the shifting economics of burning coal to make electricity means it's slowing dying out. Part of the challenge is environmental. Part of the challenge is cost. And the rest is public perception, which has shifted against what many Americans see as a dirty, archaic form of power generation.
Trump has tried to reverse that trend by citing national security risks, keeping some coal-fired power plants open, even against their owners' wishes. He has also ordered the military to buy coal for making electricity, instead of using wind or solar.
Trump won Lincoln County, home to Kemmerer, with 83.5% of the vote in 2024, and his economic and political policies remain popular here. Still, some residents worry his actions to protect coal mines may be too late.
Pollard, who sold coal for 35 years, said the world is shifting around Kemmerer, even if some residents would prefer things stay the same. Over the decades, she watched as the number of mine customers dwindled. Now, even the power plant next to the mines burns natural gas instead of coal.
It's a seismic shift in an area where hundreds of jobs have long been linked to the mine and the power plant. Many mining jobs in the Kemmerer area pay roughly $40 an hour before overtime, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost twice the median rate for all jobs in the county.
Wyoming's coal has been popular as fuel for power plants, since it's both relatively clean-burning and generally lies close to the surface. As a result, Wyoming is home to multiple large coal mines and coal-fired power plants. The state exports 60% of the electricity it generates. Several of those power plants are owned by Buffett's PacifiCorp, with 2.1 million customers across six western states.
For decades, the coal mines outside Kemmerer powered both the Naughton power plant and the greater economy. Husbands and sons worked in the mines and in the power plant. Wives and daughters worked office jobs. Among them was Pollard, who still works part-time in sales.
Although there are vast coal reserves just beneath the surface, mine owners said it's not financially viable to keep going, and they may shut down in about a decade without new customers.
Natural gas has overtaken coal as a cleaner, easier-to-burn fuel. Wind farms dot the rolling hills along Interstate 80 as it arrows across Wyoming. And solar panels are spreading near the state's biggest city, Cheyenne.
Internationally, power generation from renewables including solar and wind has grown rapidly. Renewable power sources are cheaper and faster to install, according to the United Nations, and don't contribute to heat-trapping carbon emissions. Some environmentalists see nuclear power as a key source for carbon-free electricity that's less at risk from supply-chain interruptions, such as Iran's recent closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
"Things have to evolve. You have to change with the times. And I, too, like clean energy," Pollard said.
In 2010, the Obama administration cited environmental considerations in announcing $8.33 billion in federal loan guarantees to help build two new nuclear reactors in Georgia. Those reactors began making power in 2023 and 2024 ‒ a long and costly timeline that Natrium's backers cite as evidence their new reactor will better serve Americans.
The Natrium reactor, like many of the newer small-scale projects, uses a special kind of refined uranium that's more concentrated than typical nuclear fuels, but still weaker than what's used for bombs. Wyoming is home to large uranium deposits that state leaders hope can one day power reactors across the country.
Behind the Fossil Fuel Coffee Co. counter in downtown Kemmerer, assistant manager Janet Lively, 41, said she's seen a swell of new faces as the Natrium project ramps up. It holds potential for both the coffee shop and her own family: Her husband works at the coal mine.
As a steady stream of regulars and tourists ordered coffee and breakfast burritos, Lively said the reactor has polarized locals. Many, she said, worry how much it may change the small-town feel.
"I would say our community is split," she said. "You’re either opposed to it or in favor.”
Count Charlotte Sherbeyn, 59, among those opposed, though the longtime resident welcomes the economic boom promised by Natrium's boosters. An apartment cleaner, Sherbeyn said she's been working extra hard recently to turn over units as different construction crews cycle through town. About 1,600 temporary construction jobs will ultimately give way to as many as 300 permanent ones for running the power plant, according to Natrium.
Sherbeyn said she doesn't understand why billionaires like Gates need public funding to complete these projects: If they're so worthwhile, she asked, why doesn’t Gates foot the bill entirely? Gates is worth approximately $100 billion, and Sherbeyn said it feels as though Gates is somehow taking advantage of taxpayers to get his pet project built.
"I'm just not a huge Bill Gates fan," she said. "He only cares about him. It’s just a dollar sign to him."
TerraPower said the Natrium reactor represents a significant public-private partnership in which the company and taxpayers are contributing equally.
“This partnership was created to help build out this new industry in order to scale a fleet of new reactors and unleash American nuclear power at a time when it’s needed most,” the company said in a statement. “To meet this demand, we must build and scale the entire next-generation nuclear industry, which means we need a fleet of power plants, a domestic fuel supply, a robust supply chain and a trained workforce.”
Sherbeyn said she's also worried a nuclear meltdown at the Natrium plant could trigger a broader catastrophe, given the coal and natural gas beneath the ground, and the Yellowstone Caldera 260 miles north.
“If that blows up," she said, "we’re done."
'A whole new era of nuclear energy'
Just outside of Kemmerer, the Natrium site rumbles and beeps with the sound of heavy construction equipment reshaping the ground to accommodate what will ultimately be a partially buried reactor housing.
Workers began preparing the non-nuclear parts of the facility in June 2024, and broke ground on the nuclear site in April. Contractors are also putting the finishing touches on a towering testing and fueling facility. The reactor building is not yet under construction, and there's no nuclear fuel on the site yet, either.
USA TODAY in May received an exclusive site tour with TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque. Driving around the site, managers explained their safety protocols for both construction workers, the nuclear fuel and the community. They highlighted their efforts to protect Native American sites and nesting birds. And they showed off the testing facility where workers will help develop pumps to move molten metal from the reactor to the generator turbine.
"This really is the beginning of a whole new era of nuclear energy," Levesque said.
He said his interest in the industry was inspired in part by seeing how environmental activism delayed the construction of nuclear plant near his childhood home in New Hampshire.
"This is the first plant, but we're going to build more than a hundred of these things around the world," he said.
During the 1960s and '70s, American power companies built dozens of nuclear power plants around the country, and today they still provide about 20% of the country's electricity.
About 100 reactors are still operating from that initial expansion, which ground to a halt after the 1979 partial meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island. In that disaster, a small amount of radioactive material was released into the air.
While experts say there were ultimately no significant health implications, the release shifted Americans' attitudes toward nuclear energy. Subsequent disasters, including the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown and the 2011 Fukushima leak, helped sustain that fear.
Federal officials say nuclear power is safe, in large part due to the comprehensive regulations and safeguards enacted following the Three Mile Island disaster. They point out that the U.S. Navy has long safely operated nuclear reactors aboard aircraft carriers and submarines, although the military does not routinely provide safety data.
TerraPower aims to show its Natrium facility can be built far faster than a traditional nuclear power plant while still operating safely. Much of that comes down to the reactor's design: Instead of using high-pressure steam in the reactor, Natrium uses molten sodium metal to transfer heat from the uranium to a separate steam turbine.
Levesque said he's confident the project will be both safe and environmentally responsible. To him, that would mean it should draw support from conservatives who want to ensure homegrown energy security and from liberals who see nuclear as a pathway to a carbon-free future.
"What changed about 10 years ago was with the concern about climate and CO2 emissions, a lot of liberal folks, a lot of especially young liberals, really got interested in nuclear," he said. "Nuclear did have this great safety record, and so maybe older generations who grew up with some of the stigma that was prevalent in the '70s, that kind of worked its way out of the consciousness of the public."
Bill Gates, boom and bust
Lyman, the nuclear safety skeptic, said he's concerned that Trump's aggressive timeline for getting new nuclear plants running will come at safety and security costs. He said he's also worried local residents fail to understand each reactor will ultimately be surrounded by nuclear waste. Reactors like Natrium will have to be refueled roughly every two years. And since the United States has no centralized waste repository, the still-radioactive waste will remain on site.
Meanwhile, Lyman is also concerned how the Natrium reactor is backed by Gates, who helped create Silicon Valley's high-risk, high-reward culture. That kind of approach doesn't make a lot of sense when there are cheaper, easier and less radioactive ways to make electricity, particularly wind or solar, he said.
"It's a sign that the industry and the Trump administration are not seriously confronting these issues in a way that's sustainable," Lyman said. "That doesn't bode well. You can fool some people, but you can't fool Mother Nature."
Pollard, the semi-retired mine employee, said she's been impressed with the quality of the engineers and other workers TerraPower has hired, and said she's comfortable Gates has the best interests of people at heart. He's visited the project multiple times, she said, something she considers a sign of his earnest commitment to Kemmerer.
Since going down to part-time at the mine, Pollard has opened "3 ZERO 7 Place" soda shop, a reference to the state's sole area code. Pollard said she's optimistic the Natrium reactor will juice the area's economy, even if it comes with some risks.
"Kemmerer is kind of used to boom and bust," Pollard said. "You can't have growth without some short-term pain."
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