Bechtel Exits Bill Gates-Backed Natrium Nuclear Project, TerraPower Says Wyoming Reactor Stays on Schedule

TerraPower and Bechtel are done working together on the flagship Natrium nuclear plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming. After six years as partners, the two companies confirmed they couldn't agree on commercial terms for the project's next phase and are moving forward separately, according to statements reported by the American Nuclear Society's Nuclear Newswire and confirmed independently by World Nuclear News and ENR.

The split became public after Bechtel filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with Virginia officials on September 15, warning that roughly 200 positions at its nuclear engineering headquarters in Reston, Virginia, could be eliminated starting around November 16. Bechtel told the state it's trying to reassign those employees to other nuclear projects rather than lay them off, according to World Nuclear News.

What Bechtel Built Before Leaving

Bechtel signed on as TerraPower's design, licensing, procurement and construction partner in 2020, back when the project was still a federal grant application. The Department of Energy ultimately committed $2 billion to the project through its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, an amount TerraPower matched, according to Nuclear Engineering International.

The two companies broke ground at the Kemmerer site, a former coal-plant location, in June 2024. Bechtel then helped TerraPower clear a string of regulatory hurdles: an Environmental Impact Statement in October 2025, a Final Safety Evaluation from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December 2025, and a construction permit that the NRC issued this spring, according to Nuclear Engineering International and Power Engineering. That permit was historic. It marked the NRC's first construction permit for a commercial non-light-water reactor in more than four decades, according to the American Nuclear Society.

Bechtel's crews then mobilized for full construction, completing the exterior enclosure of the plant's Sodium Test and Fill Facility, placing major equipment procurements, and starting foundation work on Kemmerer Unit 1. All of that, TerraPower and Bechtel both say, was performed under an earlier phase of the contract, before the full EPC scope for the next stage was ever locked down.

According to Nuclear Engineering International, the actual breakdown came down to money. The two sides could not agree on commercial terms and pricing for the next phase. Bechtel spokeswoman Molly Edwards, quoted separately by both World Nuclear News and ENR, confirmed the companies "decided to move forward separately" but did not specify a reason. WyoFile reported that Bechtel's WARN letter itself offered no additional detail on the cause of the split.

Local Officials Say They Were Given a Heads-Up

Kemmerer Mayor Robert Bowen said the city received advance notice from TerraPower specifically to head off rumors, according to Nuclear Engineering International. Lincoln County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kent Connelly told WyoFile that TerraPower has kept local officials informed throughout. "There'll be a new contractor coming in," Connelly said. "So this is not about somebody being pulled off the site. They're just changing contractors."

Bechtel isn't disappearing overnight. The company will stay on-site to finish the Sodium Test and Fill Facility and support what both sides call an "orderly transition," according to World Nuclear News.

What Happens With the Contract Now

TerraPower announced September 22 that it will rebid the EPC contract for the roughly $4 billion project, according to ENR. The company has not named a replacement contractor or laid out a procurement timeline. TerraPower insists the 2030 construction completion target and 2031 commercial operation date remain unchanged, telling both WyoFile and ENR that existing subcontractors and commercial-grade EPC support firms already on site will keep the schedule intact.

TerraPower isn't starting from zero on contracting relationships. The company struck a strategic alliance with KBR in March 2025 to build a repeatable EPC framework for future Natrium plants, and last month selected Hyundai Engineering & Construction as EPC contractor for up to eight additional Natrium reactors, complete with completion, price and performance guarantees, according to ENR. TerraPower also lined up contracts with 12 equipment vendors in August to support Kemmerer construction and the sodium facility, World Nuclear News reported. None of those arrangements, however, cover Kemmerer Unit 1 itself, which is exactly the contract now up for grabs.

The Natrium reactor is designed as a 345-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor paired with a molten-salt storage system that can push output to 500 MWe for more than five hours to meet peak demand, according to Nuclear Engineering International. TerraPower has pitched Kemmerer as the blueprint for a broader Natrium fleet, which is precisely why the identity of its next contractor matters beyond this one site.

The unresolved question is straightforward: who replaces Bechtel, and how fast. TerraPower has given no timetable for naming a new EPC contractor, and neither ENR nor Power Engineering could get the company to name candidates. Until that contract is signed, the 2030 completion date rests on a construction team that, by TerraPower's own account, is still being assembled behind the scenes.