Nuke startup X-energy plans tech deals beyond Amazon
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Clay Sell speaks last year. Photo: Chuck McCutcheon/Axios
HOUSTON — The small modular reactor startup X-energy's work with Amazon to deploy the technology won't be its only tie-up with a major tech player, CEO Clay Sell said.
- "There's more to come," he said in an interview Thursday on CERAWeek by S&P Global's sidelines.
Why it matters: Sell's confidence signals how interest in long-term data center power is creating markets for SMRs, which many tech giants have aspirations to eventually deploy.
- Sell has called the round-the-clock needs of data centers a good fit for small reactors.
State of play: He also described X-energy's policy goals. One is help from the Energy Department loan office for power customers looking to harness SMRs.
- Another is ensuring IRA nuclear tax credits continue as Congress weighs the 2022 law's fate, and get extended.
"The nuclear policies have historically always been an area of great bipartisan consensus, so we're hopeful that those will continue," Sell said.
- "If they didn't continue, that would certainly force all of our customers to reassess their calculus, and I think it would be very detrimental to our customer backlog," he said.
Catch up quick: X-energy already takes part in the DOE-financed Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.
- The Trump team hasn't filled in many details about which programs it wants to maintain as Energy Secretary Chris Wright settles into the job.
- But ARDP was created under Trump 1.0. More broadly, Wright really likes nuclear.
The bottom line: It's a long, uncertain road to deployment of SMRs, which is years off. But Sell said SMRs can fill a clear need.
- "It starts with a recognition of, how much demand is there for clean from 24/7, pollution-free, reliable power?" he said.
- "And whatever you thought that demand was three years ago, there's evidence that it's substantially more than that now."
