(Yicai Global) Aug. 3 -- Wang Shoutao, chairman of leading nuclear power developer China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), met with Microsoft Corporation [NASDAQ​:MSFT] founder Bill Gates at the headquarters of his nuclear reactor design company TerraPower LLC in the US. Both leaders pledged to jointly promote cooperation between the companies on the development of fourth-generation nuclear power technology.

The American multi-billionaire said he was deeply honored to partner the CNNC on fourth-generation nuclear power technology, and he looked forward to collaborating with the Chinese corporation in driving the joint initiative forward, China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission reported online yesterday.

The CNNC also signed a partnership agreement with TerraPower. Wang was given a detailed presentation about the development of the reactor when he visited TerraPower's Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) laboratory.

Gates founded TerraPower in 2006 to develop the TWR, a technology that can transform infertile, waste raw materials, or even abandoned uranium isotopes, into energy that can generate considerable profits, public information shows.

The US business magnate has held several meetings with the CNNC executives after TerraPower's establishment and also visited the group's China Institute of Atomic Energy in November 2009. The two companies previously signed separate partnership agreements in September 2015 and March this year.