Exclusive: Nuclear fuel recycling startup Project Omega raises $12M
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Project Omega exited stealth Wednesday with a $12 million seed round under its belt and plans to convert spent nuclear fuel into power sources the military can use for wearables, sensors, drones and more.
The big picture: The ambitions could help solve, in the long run, three major American concerns:
- What to do with all the spent fuel laying around
- How to keep troops healthy, informed and out of harm's way
- How to satiate an energy appetite that's growing, thanks to artificial intelligence and other factors
"We need to make sure that we're self-sufficient, we're energy independent. And that means we need the nuclear fuel cycle here in the United States," CEO Staff Sheehan told Axios.
- "We're the picks and shovels of the nuclear gold rush."
State of play: Omega is already with working the Department of Energy.
- It's doing separation and refining at Idaho National Lab and is turning the material into products at the Pacific Northwest National Lab.
- "One of the key unlocks we've done here is we've actually taken the energy that's in the spent fuel and we've demonstrated converting that energy into electricity," Sheehan said.
Zoom in: Omega is Sheehan's fourth business. It employs 15 people and is headquartered in Rhode Island.
- Its first offering is a power source that could resemble AA, AAA or smaller batteries.
- "That doesn't require you to rebuild your whole system — and I'm all about drop-in replacements," Sheehan said. "I don't like rebuilding infrastructure."
Follow the money: Omega's seed round was led by Starship Ventures.
- Other backers include Mantis Ventures, Buckley Ventures, Slow Ventures and Decisive Point.
- "Spent nuclear fuel may be considered trash for some but we think it is a treasure, and key to unlocking the next century of U.S. energy leadership," Hugo Peterson, Starship's chief operating officer, told Axios.
The intrigue: Omega has pledged not to do weapons work.
