The Department of Transportation has launched a Request for Information (RFI) from the nuclear industry on the potential development of an SMR for use within the marine transport system, as part of an initiative aimed at developing such a reactor for the U.S.
Aalo Atomics reduced permitting workload by 92% and cut an estimated $80M in annual costs using Microsoft’s generative AI tools, as part of the newly launched Microsoft–NVIDIA “AI for Nuclear” initiative aimed at accelerating reactor design, licensing, and deployment...
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Energy transition, Fission, Future of Energy, Government support, NEWS, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear R&D, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Portfolio Venture, Private companies, Regulatory reform, US technological leadership, Zero emission energy
Nucleation Capital is pleased to congratulate Radiant Nuclear and share their December 17th announcement of its close of a $300+ Million Series D financing, led by Draper Associates and Boost VC for a combined $100 million check. Many prior Radiant investors are also re-investing including DCVC, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Nucleation Capital and others.
Nucleation Capital is participating in this Series D financing, so all current subscribers will gain access to this investment, which marks Nucleation's third investment into Radiant since the company raised its Series A in 2021. Additionally, this will be the first time that Nucleation has invested three times into a venture, which is a reflection of the company's impressive success knocking down milestones towards the design, development, construction, testing and licensing of Kaleidos, the company's 1 MW transportable power generator.
Radiant is among a small handful of advanced nuclear developers that are making rapid strides towards initial builds and testing of novel reactor designs through a combined DOE/NRC licensing approach. As one of just three companies selected for DOME testing of its reactor in the DOE FEED Program back in 2023, Radiant managed to win the #1 testing slot, beating Westinghouse's eVinci for the right to commence testing in 2026, securing what we think could be an early-mover advantage in the race towards full commercial NRC licensing.
This new capital raise, which came together quickly less than a year after the company's Series C, will support the company's DOME testing and scaling of its commercialization efforts, particularly the design and build-out of Radiant's production factory, R-50, being sited in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on an 85-acre parcel of former Manhattan Project land.
Nucleation Capital, whose Fund I is a long-term investor in Radiant, builds boutique portfolios of top ventures innovating within the advanced nuclear and nuclear-adjacent sectors. There is so much demand across every sector for better sources of clean, reliable energy, we believe that there is a huge opportunity for those ventures like Radiant delivering reliable clean power systems that meet the energy needs in specific niches like data centers, remote villages, industrial centers, universities, hospital campuses, marine transport fleets, forward military bases, vehicle charging stations, large towns and urban district heating systems.
Fund I is designed primarily to provide curated and affordablce access for accredited and other high networth investors. Nucleation's Fund II is designed to provide institutional LPs with boutique access to these rarified clean energy sectors, though skewed slightly later stage.
Nucleation's Fund I operates on a quarterly subscription model and accepts new investors (as limited partners or "LPs") on a rolling basis. Investors select the level and term that works for them—from as low as $10,000 to as high as $1 milion per year—and fund on a quarterly basis to receive a pro rata allocation in each of the investments Nucleation makes each quarter. Learn more about participation in Nucleation's Fund I here.
Published by Ian Brusewitz in Advanced Nuclear, Department of Energy, Electrification, Energy transition, Fission, Future of Energy, Investor activity, NEWS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear financing, Portfolio Venture, Private companies, Pro-nuclear campaign, US competitiveness, US technological leadership
Radiant has selected Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for its first microreactor manufacturing facility after regulatory hurdles in Wyoming blocked plans for temporary fuel storage...
Kairos Power is the recipient of the first ever Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved Construction Permit Application (CPA) for a Gen IV (non-light water) Reactor Design. Kairos is now able to commence building the Hermes molten salt-cooled demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the first advanced nuclear design approved for construction in the US in more than 50 years.
According to World Nuclear News, Kairos has been in pre-application engagement with the NRC since 2018 and submitted the CPA in late 2021 and had it accepted by the NRC in November 2021. In October, the NRC held a mandatory hearing for the CPA, with senior Kairos officials in attendance (in a publicly available meeting that any interested party can attend via Zoom) which received unanimous support from the Commissioners, not least because, under Dr. Per Peterson, the company has done an amazing job of planning a series of iterative builds, which sequentially and increasingly de-risk the design.
According to World Nuclear News, Kairos has been in pre-application engagement with the NRC since 2018 and submitted the CPA in late 2021 and had it accepted by the NRC in November 2021. In October, the NRC held a mandatory hearing for the CPA, with senior Kairos officials in attendance (in a publicly available meeting that any interested party can attend via Zoom) which received unanimous support from the Commissioners, not least because, under Dr. Per Peterson, the company has done an amazing job of planning a series of iterative builds, which sequentially and increasingly de-risk the design.
Hermes is the first step in this graduated process and is anticipated to be a 35 MW (thermal) non-power iteration of the future fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactor, the KP-HFR. Kairos also have a CPA pending for its next iteration, called Hermes 2, which is expected to be a 2-unit demonstration plant that, after learnings have been incorporated, would replicate the complete architecture of the future commercial plants, which the company expects to start building in the early 2030s.
According to Katy Huff, the US Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, the NRC's approval is a "huge milestone" for the energy sector and, we'll add, for our ability to address climate change. If nothing else, the NRC is showing that it is serious about providing a path forward for Gen IV reactors.
Read more at the World Nuclear News in "NRC approves Hermes construction permit," December 13, 2023.
Learn more about Kairos Power at the company's website and at Atomic Insights, our companion blog and podcast series, where Rod Adams interviews Per Peterson, the Chief Nuclear Officer of Kairos in Atomic Show #288 – Per Peterson, CNO, Kairos Power.
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Brilliant thinkers, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, Government support, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear innovation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Solving climate, US competitiveness, US technological leadership, Zero emission energy
The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) achieved criticality on June 1, 1965, having taken about two years and a total of $80 million to build. In 1968, it became the first reactor to run on Uranium-233 and proved both that U-233 could act as a fuel source and also that the molten salt liquid fuel could act both as a carrier/energy container and as a coolant. During an event to introduce the MSRE, Alvin Weinberg pointed to barrels near an assembled crowd containing the salts and fuel that had no radiologocial protection—as none was needed.
The MSRE logged more than 13,000 hours at full power and many more at partial power levels—although it is not clear that the power was ever connected to an electric grid—but was eventually shut down in 1969 and the molten salt program itself in 1973, when the political decision was made by the Atomic Energy Commission to "focus on other designs."
Today, governments and industry are once again reviewing the achievements of the MRSE and re-evaluating whether molten salt technology provides some of the answers to the global energy challenge that we face. There are numerous next-generation groups working on variations on the MSRE design for deployment in the coming decade.
Read more in the ORNL Review: "Time Warp: Molten Salt Reactor Experiment—Alvin Weinberg's magnum opus" and at Energy from Thorium: MSRE 50th Anniversary" by Kirk Sorenson.
Published by Nucleation Capital in Advanced Nuclear, Construction costs, Future of Energy, Government support, LINKS, Nuclear R&D, US competitiveness
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