The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power plant, on Lake Erie.

Credit: James Marvin Phelps

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Pentagon’s top arms provider and firms partly funded by Silicon Valley billionaires Bill Gates and Paul Allen are among dozens of companies collectively betting more than $1.3 billion that a new wave of nuclear power can be a force to fight climate change.

Advanced nuclear power plants, which will employ techniques such as using fuels other than uranium and coolants other than water, have attracted private investments from more than 40 companies from Florida to Washington state, the Third Way think tank says in the first report specifying the number of firms and total money invested in the technologies.

The reactors, which could come into development in 10 to 15 years, can help curb U.S. carbon emissions and make investments in electricity generation less costly, researchers at Washington, D.C.-based Third Way said in a report seen by Reuters and to be released as soon as Monday.

Companies expressing faith in advanced nuclear power range from Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon’s largest supplier, […]

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