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We are taking this opportunity to look back and reflect on the major trends and shed light on what's ahead in 2026. Click to read the full newsletter.
Published by Nucleation Capital in NEWSLETTER
We appreciate all of the support provided by our investors, advisors and friends this past year. We wish you all a very healthy, happy and successful new year. May 2026 bring even more progress towards nucleating our carbon-managed economy.
Published by Nucleation Capital in NEWSLETTER
Nucleation Capital is pleased to congratulate Blykalla on the close of its $50 million financing round in December 2025 and to confirm its participation as a returning investor. The round was co-led by Oklo, Norrsken Launcher, and Armada Investment, with participation from strategic and financial investors including KDDI, Earth Venture Capital, and the co-founders of CoreWeave.
This marks Nucleation Capital’s second investment in Blykalla, following the $7.3 million Series A completed in the spring of 2024, which Nucleation co-led with Norrsken Ventures. Since that time, Blykalla has continued the development of its SEALER lead-cooled reactor while expanding its commercial and partnership activity across Europe and North America.
Over the course of 2025, Blykalla announced a series of partnerships and project-related agreements tied to Nordic deployment of its SEALER reactor, transatlantic cooperation, and the use of nuclear power for data centers.
In February, Blykalla and Norsk Kjernekraft announced a memorandum of understanding to explore the deployment of the SEALER reactor in Scandinavia, followed later by an agreement to pursue an SMR project in Norway’s Svalbard region. In late September 2025, Blykalla announced a major transatlantic partnership with Oklo to collaborate on reactor technology, supply chains, and regulatory coordination. Subsequently, in October 2025, Blykalla announced a landmark partnership with licensed nuclear site host Studsvik and European hyperscaler evroc to evaluate Sweden's first nuclear-powered data centers at the Studsvik site in Nyköping, Sweden.
The capital from this financing will support continued testing and validation at the Advanced Reactor Testing Site in Oskarshamn, Sweden, further design and engineering work on Blykalla’s first nuclear units, and ongoing commercial and regulatory efforts related to siting and licensing its initial SEALER project.
Nucleation Capital invests in advanced nuclear and nuclear-adjacent companies focused on delivering reliable, zero-carbon energy. Nucleation’s continued participation in Blykalla reflects its long-term view that multiple next-generation reactor designs will be required to meet growing electricity demand from industry, data infrastructure, and other energy-intensive sectors.
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Artificial Intelligence, Data centers & Digital Infra, Fission, International Collaboration, International support for nuclear, Investor activity, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear R&D, Portfolio Venture, Private companies
Portfolio company Aalo Atomics officially announced at the Aaloverse Summit that it has shipped its first five Aalo-0 modules from Austin to the Idaho National Laboratory, validating its mass-manufacturing approach ahead of 2026 reactor criticality...
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Artificial Intelligence, Big Tech, Company Milestone, Data centers & Digital Infra, Department of Energy, Electrification, Energy abundance, Fusion, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear R&D, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Portfolio Venture, Private companies, US competitiveness, US technological leadership, Venture capital support for nuclear
Radiant, a Nucleation portfolio company, was spotlighted in the LA Times for its progress in developing portable, helium-cooled nuclear...
Published by Nuclea_Admin in Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Climate Costs, Electrification, Energy transition, Fail-safe fuels, National Defense, NEWS, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear R&D, Nucleation communications, Portfolio Venture, Private companies, Solving climate, US competitiveness, Venture capital support for nuclear
CORE POWER has joined ABS and Athlos Energy to form a new consortium studying floating nuclear power solutions for Mediterranean ports, islands, and coastal communities...
A Ladies Luncheon discussion of nuclear!
Los Angeles is still reeling from a series of horrific fires that devasted multiple communities, particularly Palisades and Eaton in early 2025. Recent reports found that these fires caused between $28 and $54 billion in property damange, along with what may be $9 billion in related economic losses in LA County alone. The fires have caused a loss of almost 50,000 job-years in the region, reducing area wages, business income, and federal, state and local tax revenue.
Lack of rain, hotter and drier conditions and high winds helped fuel the fires while combating the fires was hindered by the excess heat and widespread shortage of divertable water resources. These are conditions that have been exascerbated by global warming, which is caused by humanity's growing carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels. Gigatonnes of these heat-trapping waste CO2 emissions have amassed within the atmosphere causing the planet to get warmer. Scientists now believe that we've exceeded 1.5°Celsius average increase or 2.7°Fahrenheit and the heating is continuing to rise at an accelerating rate.
While Los Angeles is working to recover, rebuild and repair, the question of how to begin to reverse the damage we're continuing to do to the climate remains. We know with total certainty that we must stop burning fossil fuels. But demand for energy is not just growing around the world, demand is surging—particularly due to AI usage. This means not only do we need to focus on building only new clean energy plants but we also need to replace the 80% of global energy still using fossil fuels with equivalent sources of clean power as well.
We've been building wind and solar as fast as possible but these have never been able to keep up with even the historically lower level of energy growth. Additionally, the enormous costs of "firming" all that dilute and intermittent power (i.e. adding batteries, duplicative generation, and other fossil back up for when the sun and wind aren't cooperating) have increased California ratepayer costs. Meanwhile, we are still reliant on burning fossil fuels for some 60% of our power here in California and new fossil plants continue to get built that lock in continued emissions for decades more, which is extraordinarily bad for our future.
We clearly need better solutions. From our perspective, the only good news on the climate horizon is that energy experts, tech hyperscalers, government officials, industrial companies and investors are increasingly recognizing the importance of nuclear power for addressing our energy and climate needs. Nuclear (fission) power produces massive amounts of energy with zero emissions and runs reliably 24/7 (except for refuelings). It also cleans the air (as it emits zero toxins, unlike coal and gas), it provides good-paying jobs and has one of the smallest possible ecologic footprints. Best of all, there's a race on to develop next-generation nuclear power plants that better meet our 21st century energy needs. (Nuclear fusion may play a role in the future but commercialization of that technology is still much further off.)
Nuclear power—and especially newer, advanced designs—has seen bipartisan support in the Congress since the Obama Administration. Both Biden and Trump have increased funding for development of next-gen nuclear and signed multiples bills to accelerate new deployments for energy security, for climate change and for national security goals. Public support for nuclear power is currently at its highest level in decades. Yet, support by men exceeds that of women overall. Among women, surprisingly, those most concerned about climate change, primarily progressive Democrats, report the least support for nuclear power. This appears to be a function of less awareness and knowledge about the technology and a residual sense that nuclear is dangerous, even though it has been found to be among the safest and cleanest forms of energy ever developed. That does not appear to be common knowledge among women yet.
Valerie Gardner, Nucleation Capital's managing partner, is working to help set the record straight. She is co-hosting a luncheon gathering for an intimate gathering of women in Los Angeles to discuss nuclear power and share what she has learned over the past 15 years of research and investigation, to dispell myths that still infuse women's thinking about nuclear energy.
Official Event Description
Nuclear for Climate
Join a small group of women gathering at an LA restaurant to enjoy a hosted lunch and discussion exploring the proposition that nuclear power could be exactly what we need to meet the surging demand for energy and solve climate climate safely, sustainably and cost-effectively.
As data centers, cloud computing, vehicle electrification, crypto mining, manufacturing and more create unprecedented demand, energy buyers and the broader utility sector in general are facing a pivotal moment. Will we meet this demand with more cheap but often volatile fossil fuel power generation and continue to make our climate crisis worse? Or will we push forward and accelerate the commercialization of revolutionary advanced nuclear technologies that are clean, dense, low-impact, reliable and climate resilient—everything we need! What if next-generation nuclear is able to compete on every level with fossil fuels, including price? This could change our planet's trajectory for the better, reduce emissions, lessen the threat from climate change and help save our children's future.
Event Details:
Date: July 9th, 2025
Time: 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Location in LA: To be provided upon registration
Join us to explore ideas that will define the next generation of energy systems. Click here to request an invitation!
Looking forward to seeing everyone in L.A.!
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Advanced Nuclear Customers, Artificial Intelligence, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Electrification, Energy abundance, Energy transition, EVENTS, Fission, Fusion, Future of Energy, Government support, Investor activity, Macro Energy Systems, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Nucleation communications, Reduced ecosystem impacts, Regulatory reform, Solving climate, Solving nuclear waste, US competitiveness, US technological leadership, Women in Nuclear, Zero emission energy
Nucleation announces its investment in Zeno Power’s $50 Million Series B with Fund I
Nucleation is delighted to announce our participation in Zeno Power’s $50 million Series B funding round, led by Hanaco Ventures with participation from Seraphim, Balerion Space Ventures, JAWS, Vanderbilt University, RiverPark Ventures, Stage 1 Ventures, 7i Capital, Beyond Earth Ventures, and other investors.
In an article released today, Axios has first reported on Zeno Power's close of this funding together with news of the company's appointment of Admiral John Richardson, USN (Ret.), former Chief of Naval Operations and Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, to its Board of Directors. This brings the total raised by Zeno to over $70 million, following the company's Series A, which was led by Tribe Capital.
Zeno Power is working to power strategic frontiers, which include the deep ocean, the Artic and space, regions where there are prospects for commerce, strategic influence and international competition for resources. The company builds nuclear batteries, essentially radioisotope power systems, which convert the heat from nuclear "waste" materials like Strontium-90 (Sr-90) into long-duration energy sources. The demand for such power systems—by groups seeking to operate on the moon, Mars, in the Artic and deep ocean—prove the high value of many of the highly radioactive materials found in nuclear waste. Over the last three years, Zeno has secured over $60M in contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA, built and demonstrated their first nuclear prototype at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and secured the nuclear fuel and facilities to build their first 10+ nuclear batteries.
The company's Series B funding is expected to unlock the team's plans to:
- Demonstrate full-scale nuclear batteries in 2026 to enable maritime and space deliveries in 2027
- Scale their manufacturing capabilities to meet growing demand from government and commercial customers
- Expand into seabed telecommunications, deep-sea mining for critical minerals, and commercial space markets
- Grow our team from 65 to 100+ team members across Seattle and Washington D.C.
To learn more about Zeno and their business of unlocking the value of nuclear waste, read Zeno Power CEO Tyler Bernstein's blog post, Powering the Frontier: Our $50M Series B Round, with more information about the raise and Zeno's plans for the coming years.
Also see: GeekWire, Zeno Power raises $50M in funding to fuel development of next-gen nuclear batteries, by Alan Boyle, May 14, 2025.
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Advanced Nuclear Customers, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, Government support, Investor activity, NEWS, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear R&D, Nuclear waste, Nucleation communications, Portfolio Venture, RTGs, Solving nuclear waste, US competitiveness, US technological leadership, Venture capital support for nuclear, Zero emission energy
An important conversation hosted by Doon Insights
Doon Insights, an investment-focused group organized by Howard Chao, convened dozens of subject-matter experts as speakers (see the list below) across many disciplines in Santa Cruz, California to address trends and issues impacting demand for and supply of energy in the coming years and decades. Energy, which is what makes today's technologically-dependent society possible, is a very large and important topic and was a lot to cover. But in an ambitious, rapid-paced one-day conference titled "POWER SURGE: Solving for Unprecedented Energy Demand," dozens of people laid out the fundamentals and discussed the key questions around both what is driving demand and how will we meet that demand. Questions tackled included:
Demand Side
- Why projections for US power needs now greatly exceed what would have been predicted only a couple of year ago
- Why the exceptional needs of AI Data Centers and the electrification of diverse parts of the economy are driving energy demand
- What are the challenges of building, financing and operating new data centers?
- How much more power will these new facilities require? Where will they be located and what is the attitude of utilities, state and federal government towards supporting them?
- How will the rapidly changing AI competitive landscape affect these power projections? Does the advent of very cheap, highly efficient, smaller SLMs, open source models and Chinese competitors mean that investors have overestimated the need for huge data centers?
- How will the electrification of vehicles, buildings, industry and transactions (blockchain and cryptocurrencies) further accelerate and add significant incremental power demand?
- What are the primary challenges to meeting these power demands of these expanding use cases in the coming years and what will be the main challenges to implementation, including the need to expand the transmission capabilities of the grid?
- Will the new administration's renewed emphasis on fossil fuels result in a slowdown in electrification?
- What will be the impact of the tariffs on the buildout of all these projects?
- How will the new administration's energy policies impact all of these areas? Will we be able to unleash power generation sufficient to sustain the foreseeable economic growth while also continuing to reduce carbon emissions?
Supply Side
- What are the near and longer-term challenges and solutions to the surge in power demand?
- Will growing renewables and batteries be sufficient?
- Will fossil fuels experience a resurgence, with all that drilling?
- Will the sexiest and biggest solutions—nuclear fission and fusion—be coming on stream faster than most people believe?
- What are the short, medium and long-term prospects for these new technologies?
- Will the "privatization" of nuclear innovation and the prevalence of an industry being led by fast-moving private companies, pleasantly surprise us with their speed to market?
- What will be the near-term and longer-term mix of energy solutions?
- How will a patchwork of revamped legacy technologies, including fuel cells, wind, solar, distributed generation, energy storage, energy time-of-use shifting and other behind-the-meter solutions help in the short-term?
- How are advancements in small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), which offer enhanced safety features, reduced construction times, and the flexibility to be deployed in diverse locations, going to contribute?
- Given that major technology companies like Google and Amazon are investing in SMRs to power their expansive data centers, how will this accelerate commercialization?
- Fusion energy—which is experiencing a wave of breakthroughs, with multiple companies and research initiatives racing to develop and commercialize multiple technologies, such as high-temperature superconductors, improved plasma confinement techniques, and novel neutron flux applications—is beginning to generate revenues but has yet to complete a power-generating reactor design. Will the new administration help accelerate progress towards practical fusion power with pilot plants within the decade or is this game-changing technology still decades away?
The Nuclear Option
Valerie Gardner, Nucleation's managing partner, moderated the day's fission panel, called "The Nuclear Option: Generation IV and Small Modular Reactors," which looked at the role of fission innovation and the coming wave of small, modular reactors (SMRs), that were poised to bring nuclear power into the 21st century. She and her panelists, Leah Crider from Westinghouse (seated on the left), representing the eVinci design, and Clayton Scott from NuScale Power (in the center), which has the first NRC-certified advanced fission design, discussed how and why next-generation nuclear will be the ideal clean energy solution that few think is possible.
While the Fission panel had a full 45 minutes (and probably went over-time) to cover a lot of ground, including reviewing nuclear's status as a major source of today's clean energy, the fact that nuclear is turning into a "technology" product that can be manufactured in factories and shipped to locations, and how a growing assortment of energy buyers like Google, Amazon and Dow Chemical see advanced nuclear as solving their energy needs better than other solutions, because the subject matter was so expansive, Valerie and her panel were able to cover many but definitely not all of the important points. Nevertheless, the fact that this conference's supply-side conversation included nuclear fission at all was a huge victory. This inclusion reflects the fact that nuclear energy is no longer seen as the taboo topic it was long deemed to be, at least up until the last couple of years. For too long, nuclear fission was excluded and no one considered it a vital part of the clean energy solution set. But times have changed and especially among investors looking to understand key long-term trends and be able to invest into them at an early stage.
According to Howard Chao, each panel of the conference, by design, was too short, leaving a lot of unfinished conversations. Nucleation Capital was honored to have been included in this discussion and we look forward to continuing to see interest in advanced nuclear broaden.
POWER SURGE: List of Speakers
Published by Valerie Gardner in Advanced Nuclear, Artificial Intelligence, Bitcoin, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Electrification, Energy abundance, Energy transition, EVENTS, Fission, Fusion, Future of Energy, Government support, Investor activity, Macro Energy Systems, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Nucleation communications, Reduced ecosystem impacts, Regulatory reform, Solving climate, Solving nuclear waste, US competitiveness, US technological leadership, Women in Nuclear
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