Nuclear energy is a clean energy source that has zero carbon emissions yet it has hardly been implemented as alternative energy due to the associated risk and the amount of work needed to set up and run a facility.
In 2006, Microsoft founder Bill Gates launched TerraPower, a nuclear energy company, to solve that exact problem and expand the use of nuclear energy throughout the world. Since then, the company has also expanded its focus to find ways to treat cancer with nuclear science.
On Monday, TerraPower announced that it secured $750 million in equity funding from SK Group, a South Korean energy provider, and Gates himself. According to a release from the company, SK Group provided $250 million for this raise.
“TerraPower is committed to solving some of the toughest challenges that face this generation through innovation,” Chris Levesque, TerraPower president and CEO, said in a statement. “Whether it’s addressing climate change with carbon-free advanced nuclear energy, or fighting cancer with nuclear isotopes, our team is deploying technology solutions and investors across the world are taking note.”
According to the company, the new funding will be used for groundbreaking nuclear advances for energy and medicine.
Thus far, TerraPower has created reactors that are 30 times more efficient than regular reactors and don’t need enriched uranium to operate. On the medical front, the company has been using nuclear material that emits alpha isotopes as a potential way to destroy cancerous cells in the human body.
Prior to its latest raise, TerraPower secured an $8.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, according to Crunchbase.
