In the past year, companies developing small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) have collectively secured over $1.5 billion in funding. The financial boost is driven by tech companies’ demand for power to support AI model training and governmental commitments to the nuclear industry.
X-energy recently secured $700 million, while Paris-based Newcleo raised $151 million the previous year. Additionally, significant investments totaling $700 million have been made into U.S. firms such as Oklo, NuScale, and Nano Nuclear for similar projects.
While nuclear fusion remains a distant goal, SMRs are currently dominating the nuclear sector. Notably, SMR startup Valar Atomics has raised $19 million in seed funding to develop its first test reactor. This funding round was led by Riot Ventures, with participation from AlleyCorp, Initialized Capital, Day One Ventures, and Steel Atlas.
Valar Atomics’ SMR technology is based on a helium-cooled, high-temperature gas reactor design. These reactors will be manufactured in facilities likened to ‘gigafactories,’ which Valar refers to as ‘gigasites.’ By establishing a production line for SMRs, Valar aims to significantly reduce the costs associated with constructing nuclear reactors, which are typically custom projects.
Isaiah Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Valar, stated in a TechCrunch interview that building reactors is not primarily constrained by technology but by deployment methods. Taylor sees Valar’s ‘gigafactory’ model as a way to industrialize rather than craft reactors individually.
The company intends to construct numerous SMRs, primarily at off-grid locations, to supply power to data centers and industrial facilities. Valar has secured an initial contract with the Philippines Nuclear Research Institute to build a reactor in the Philippines. The plan includes the establishment of a pilot test-scale reactor and the construction of two full-scale reactors before the first integrated reactor becomes operational.
Taylor emphasized Valar’s intent to establish a factory by producing the first series of reactors. The technology underpinning Valar’s reactors uses helium gas to achieve temperatures up to 900°C, which is three times hotter than conventional nuclear reactors. This capability allows for efficient hydrogen production and the creation of low-carbon synthetic fuels by combining hydrogen with captured CO2.
Taylor highlighted the potential of producing hydrogen economically with such high-temperature reactors, enabling the production of synthetic fuels. The technology was swiftly advanced with Valar designing, engineering, and constructing a thermal test unit within 10 months, reminiscent of the rapid progress of early nuclear reactor development in the 1940s.
Taylor, whose grandfather was a nuclear physicist on the Manhattan Project, left high school at 16, later studying software systems and founding startups. The company’s technical division is overseen by Chief Nuclear Officer Mark Mitchell, the former president of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) and leader of the first small modular reactor project in South Africa. Valar’s team includes several professionals from USNC, such as its head of mechanical engineering, Willem van Rooyen.
Valar’s ambitious plans are buoyed by favorable conditions for nuclear projects. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act has facilitated private investments in clean energy infrastructure, while China is investing $440 billion in new nuclear plants. Furthermore, 14 of the world’s leading banks have pledged support to triple nuclear energy output by 2050.
