Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates said on Wednesday that he is in the process of developing of a new generation of nuclear reactors with China, with emphasis on safety, waste reduction and reasonable funding.

The whole undertaking, Mr Gates said, would cost some $1 billion and is likely to become a partnership with TerraPower, an American firm based in Washington that the tech icon said he has a considerable stake.

Mr Gates is in China for discussions with officials about the future projects of his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the country.

It appears that collaborating with China's Ministry of Science and Technology in putting up nuclear reactors with better technology governing them is part of his agenda, reports said.

According to the Associated Press (AP), this was confirmed last week when the government-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNCC) issued a statement indicating that the Microsoft co-founder is part of a project that would lead to the development of a new breed of nuclear reactors.

"TerraPower is having very good discussions with CNNC and various people in the Chinese government ... and the idea is (to construct reactors that are) very low cost, very safe and generate very little waste," Mr Gates was reported as saying during a news briefing in Beijing.

The project's research and development phase should be completed by 2016, Mr Gates said, and the end product would be a 'travelling wave reactor' that can be fired up by depleted uranium while leaving behind negligible nuclear footprints in the process.

TerraPower officials revealed that the new reactors will be designed with limited human intervention and should remain active and generating power for decades.

"All these new designs are going to be incredibly safe ... and they require no human action to remain safe at all times," which include threats of strong earthquakes and giant tsunamis, Mr Gates stressed.

The former Microsoft chief also revealed that his foundation is looking into ways of reducing poverty in China by extending substantial funding to research efforts that would "change the lives of poor people."

His goal, Mr Gates said, is for the Chinese people to introduce innovations that would lead to the production of new health and agricultural products accessible to more people.

With sufficient funding, China may soon come up with new medicines, vaccines and ways to combat diseases, including the development of genetically modified seeds that would meet the future food requirements of its people and the rest of the world.