Bill Gates is set to invest billions of dollars into an innovative nuclear power plant project in Wyoming, addressing the increasing electricity needs in the United States.

TerraPower LLC, a startup established by Gates, initiated the construction of its first commercial reactor in Wyoming last week. This development comes as a coal plant in the region is shutting down, Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft Corp., revealed on CBS’s Face the Nation. Since its inception in 2008, TerraPower has been dedicated to developing simpler and more cost-effective reactors, with plans to complete the new reactor by 2030.

“I've already invested over a billion dollars, and I’m prepared to invest billions more,” said Gates, currently ranked as the world’s sixth-richest individual by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

TerraPower’s project, which receives support from the US Department of Energy, was initially expected to be operational by 2028. However, this timeline depended on fuel sourced from Russia, which Gates now deems “unacceptable” due to current geopolitical issues, as he mentioned on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS.

The design of the reactor is notable for using liquid sodium as a coolant instead of water and incorporating molten salt to store heat, enhancing its output. TerraPower aims to procure reactor fuel from the US and its allied nations, according to Gates.

“Coal is losing ground to natural gas,” Gates explained to CNN. “Our challenge now is to effectively compete with natural gas.”

Nuclear power, which is carbon-free, is increasingly recognized as a crucial element in combating climate change, leading to a surge in the promotion of smaller reactors. In fact, 25 countries at the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai last year committed to tripling their nuclear capacity, as reported by BloombergNEF.