October 24, 2025

Why the Next Space Race Needs Nuclear for Night-Time Operations ()

Zeno Power joined industry leaders in highlighting nuclear as vital to surviving the lunar night and maintaining U.S. leadership in the new space race.

September 30, 2025

AI’s growing energy demand + carbon concerns powers momentum for nuclear

Growing Energy demand provided demand pull for both traditional and next-generation reactors throughout Q3 of 2025. Yet further boosting momentum was the announcement by the DOE that they had selected ten ventures for accelerated design review of a test unit. This has lit a fire under those and other ventures already making progress to try to get the DOE to allow them to build something by July 4, 2026.

September 25, 2025

Zeno Power Secures Americium-241 Supply from Orano for Space Missions ()

Portfolio company Zeno Power has signed a strategic agreement with Orano to obtain americium-241 from recycled nuclear fuel in France, providing a new source of critical material to power long-duration space missions...

May 14, 2025

ZENO POWER: Closes $50 Million Series B Financing

Zeno series b image
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.

Axios article headline and battery image.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.

Zeno sea sensor
Zeno moon rover

 

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.

December 31, 2024

Zeno Power

Zeno Power – A Washington, D.C.-based venture harnessing the radioisotope decay from nuclear fission waste such as Strontium-90 and Americium-241 to generate electron flow for years of reliable energy to power frontier applications that range from deep sea and artic regions to moon, Mars and deep space missions.

December 22, 2024

Congratulating Nuclear’s 1st “40 under 40” Class

 

The American Nuclear Society announced its inaugural class of Nuclear 40 Under 40 winners on Dec 13th and we want to congratulate them all. It is rather exciting to see the ANS announce this program, which is not just recognition of the contributions of young people working in the industry. In fact, this reflects a remarkable transformation for the industry overall, which has previously seen decades of decline and the aging of its work force, but which is now seeing growing interest and engagement by young people, reflecting the industry's resurgence.

There are many ways for young professionals to engage with nuclear power, everything from simply studying nuclear engineering or launching a nuclear venture, as did Brad Fox, a founder of Nuclearn (one of our portfolio ventures), all the way to leading the U.S. DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, as is Dr. Katy Hoff, one of the 40 individuals selected. According to the ANS, those selected "represent the exceptional talent, vision, and drive that is transforming the nuclear sector across the community, . . . [with] remarkable commitment, innovation, and leadership in advancing nuclear science and technology, paving the way for a future in which nuclear power and applications will continue to play a vital role in addressing global challenges."

This industry recognition "celebrates the impact these individuals have made in fields as varied as advanced reactor technology research and deployment, radioisotope systems, nuclear policy, waste management, machine learning and artificial intelligence, fusion technology, fuel supply chain development, advanced fuel research, nonproliferation and national security applications, aging management, and many more."

The 2024 Nuclear 40 Under 40 includes:

Abdalla Abou-Jaoude Assel Aitkaliyeva JungHyun Bae Nicholas Brown
Emily Caffrey Danielle Castley Adam Deatherage Harsh Desai
Kevin Field Sarah Finkeldei Carlo Fiorina Shannon Fitzgerald
Bradley Fox Joseph Garguilo Dave Grabaskas Karen Koop Hogue
Benjamin Holtzman Kathryn Huff Bret Kugelmass Florian Laggner
Lauren Lathem Erica Libra-Sharkey Jessie Lilya Ben Lindley
Kevin Lyon Matthew Marzano Kallie Metzger Tommy Morgan
Kristi Nichols April Novak Erik Nygaard Brett Rampal
Benjamin Reinke Paul Romano Koroush Shirvan Grace Stanke
Sarah Stevenson Kurt Terrani Aditi Verma Lizzy Yates

In particular, we congratulate Brad Fox, from Nuclearn, Katy Huff, who heads up the Office of Nuclear Energy, Kurt Terrani of USNC, Harsh Desai of Zeno Power, and Grace Stanke, a former Miss America winner who devoted her year in the spotlight to advocating for nuclear power, and who is now part of Constellation Energy.

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