Bill Gates to Develop New Nuclear Reactor with Korea

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has pledged to develop with Korea a revolutionary nuclear reactor that will leave far less radioactive waste than existing ones.

Gates, who retired from managing Microsoft in 2008, invested US$35 million to establish a nuclear-power venture company called TerraPower in 2010.

Gates met with the head of the Korean Nuclear Society, Chang Soon-heung, in Seattle on Thursday and agreed to cooperate in the development of a sodium-cooled fast reactor, the KNS said Sunday. SFRs are next-generation nuclear technology that can use spent nuclear fuel rods from conventional reactors.