TerraPower, the Bill Gates-backed developer of the Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1 nuclear plant, has marked a major regulatory victory by becoming the first advanced commercial nuclear facility to be notified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that its project poses “no adverse impact to the environment.”

The NRC acts independently of the United States government and is tasked with safeguarding public health as it relates to nuclear energy.

As part of this oversight, the agency conducts environmental impact statements, which identify “potential environmental issues that are expected to be common, or generic, to the construction, operation, and decommissioning of many new nuclear reactors,” according to the agency.

Among these common issues are the production of spent reactor fuel, uran

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