The race to develop artificial intelligence has spurred an emerging race for nuclear power to meet the technology’s intense energy demands.
In October, Amazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOGL) both announced deals to support nuclear energy projects with companies developing small modular reactors (SMR). These “advanced” nuclear reactors have “a smaller physical footprint, allowing them to be built closer to the grid,” Amazon said. And compared to traditional reactors, SMRs are expected be come online faster due to less construction time. Meanwhile, Microsoft (MSFT) and Constellation Energy (CEG) — the owner of most of the U.S.’s power plants — announced a 20-year power purchase agreement in September that would restart the Unit 1 reactor on Three Mile Island.
But tech’s interest in nuclear power isn’t new, with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates having been investors for years.
Here are five nuclear energy startups that Altman, Gates, and Big Tech are into.
Oklo
Oklo (not pictured) was founded in 2013. – Photo: Jean-Luc De Zorzi (Getty Images)
Altman was a lead investor in nuclear power company Oklo’s seed round in January 2015, according to PitchBook. Oklo says it’s “developing next-generation fission powerhouses to produce abundant, affordable, clean energy at a global scale.”
The California-based company has three project sites, and its Aurora powerhouse can produce 15 megawatts of electrical power (MWe). Oklo says it can scale up to 50 MWe and operate for ten years or longer before needing to be refueled.
Kairos Power
Kairos Power (not pictured) was founded in 2016. – Photo: Micha Pawlitzki (Getty Images)
Google signed “the world’s first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear energy” from small modular reactors (SMR) developed by California-based Kairos Power. The tech giant said it expects to bring the first SMR online by the end of the decade, and other reactors will be deployed through 2035. Five hundred megawatts (MW) of 24/7 carbon-free power will be made available to U.S. electricity grids through the deal.
Kairos Power is an engineering company that says it’s “focused on the delivery of a clean, affordable and safe energy solution through the integrated design, licensing and demonstration of advanced reactor technology.” The company wants its fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactor, called the KP-FHR, to be cost competitive with natural gas in the U.S.’s electricity market.
The KP-FHR, a novel advanced reactor, “uses an efficient and flexible steam cycle to convert heat from fission into electricity and to complement renewable energy sources,” according to the company.
X-energy
X-energy (not pictured) was founded in 2009. – Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg Creative (Getty Images)
Amazon announced a series of nuclear power deals, including an investment in X-energy, an engineering company focused on nuclear reactors and fuel design. X-energy’s design for advanced nuclear reactors will be used for the tech giant’s project with Washington-based Energy Northwest, which will produce four advanced SMRs that are built, owned, and operated by the utilities consortium.
X-energy manufactures its proprietary TRISO-X fuel that powers its Generation IV high-temp gas cooled-based small modular nuclear reactor, Xe-100.
TerraPower
Test engineer Jacob Wilcox pulls his arm out of a glove box used for processing sodium at TerraPower on January 13, 2022 in Everett, Washington. – Photo: Elaine Thompson (AP)
Gates founded and serves as chairman of the board of TerraPower, which is building its first nuclear power plant, Natrium, in Wyoming.
TerraPower is working on technology that can enable safe and affordable carbon-free energy. It is also developing a way to extract radioisotopes that can be used in cancer treatments.
Seaborg Technologies
Seaborg Technologies was founded in 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. – Photo: Alexander Spatari (Getty Images)
Seaborg Technologies counted Gates as an investor in its $6 million seed funding round in April 2018, according to PitchBook.
The Copenhagen-based company has developed a compact Molten Salt Reactor (CMSR) — an alternative to conventional nuclear reactors. Seaborg’s reactor mixes fuel with a liquid salt coolant, while conventional reactors use solid fuel rods that are usually constantly cooled by water under high pressure. By mixing the fuel with the liquid salt, the company says its reactor “can always be cooled” and “cannot melt down or explode.”
The company has also developed floating power plants called Power Barges to deploy its CMSRs. The power plants can produce between 200MW and 800MW of electricity, according to the company.