Seattle nuclear fusion company checking out possible location
TransAlta must stop burning coal by 2025.
LEWIS COUNTY, Wash. — A power plant in Lewis County has coal-related decommissioning by the end of 2025, but the site could become the site for a new form of energy production.
Zap Energy, a Seattle-based company working on nuclear fusion as a generator, has received a $1 million grant to make it possible to take part of its rural property. Lewis County.
“Fusion has the potential to be the clean, safe, on-demand source of electricity for the future,” said Ryan Umstattd of Zap Energy.
He said the company is working on fusion technology at a lab in Everett, but they need more space.
An 8-acre portion of TransAlta’s land, formerly used as a gas plant, now houses a larger warehouse, cooling towers and transmission lines.
Umstattd says the site is very promising for Zap Energy.
“It seems possible,” Umstattd said, adding that the company will likely spend another 18 months researching the site.
A state law passed in 2011 requires TransAlta to stop all coal burning at the plant, but that doesn’t mean the company has to give up assets.
“We looked at wind, we looked at solar, and other opportunities whether we partnered or not, we want to stay here,” said Mickey Dreher, Vice President of TransAlta Centralia. .
Dreher said the company has been using coal to generate electricity for the northwest and in markets across North America since 1971. The company now has 120 employees.
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/nuclear-fusion-company-lewis-county-coal-plant/281-20596cb3-32f1-472a-829b-aaac9118021a Seattle nuclear fusion company checking out possible location
