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Young project developer startups are amassing capital commitments and closing partnerships to kick-start nuclear projects.

Why it matters: Strong developers could be the missing piece for nuclear projects using both traditional reactors and next-gen tech. 

The big picture: When Georgia Power's Vogtle nuclear units 3 and 4 went online in 2023 and 2024 they were the first new nuclear reactors built in the U.S. in 30 years but were billions over budget and years behind schedule. 

But there's a growing desire for new nuclear projects as electricity demand soars for data centers, manufacturing and EVs. 

Nuclear upstarts are eager to use development lessons and construction tech to cut costs and speed up timelines. 

And the White House is planning executive action soon to try to speed nuclear reactors' deployment, Axios Pro Energy Policy reported this week.

Zoom in: This week nuclear project startup Elementl Power announced it's partnering with Google to develop three 600 MW nuclear projects. Google is providing development capital and has the option to buy power from the projects. 

The company is focused on deploying light-water reactors, mostly smaller ones, in the first half of the 2030s, said CEO Chris Colbert. Companies that are building lightwater SMRs include GE, Westinghouse and NuScale Power. 

Elementl, which is backed by Energy Impact Partners, is working on three projects. After the first one's built, the costs drop, and the timelines speed up, said Colbert.  

State of play: The Nuclear Company has a similar strategy to lower costs and speed up timelines by developing a fleet of nuclear projects across six, potentially adjacent, 1 GW sites. 

The fleet model could eventually allow nuclear to get nearer to the development time frame of a combined cycle gas facility, says Patrick Maloney, co-founder and chairman of The Nuclear Company and also co-founder of investment firm CIV.

The Nuclear Company announced a Series A last month led by Eclipse and including CIV, True Ventures, Wonder Ventures, Goldcrest Capital, and MCJ Collective.

Last Energy and Holtec are also emphasizing project development innovation while simultaneously developing their small light-water reactors.  

The intrigue: Companies that have built advanced reactors, like NuScale Power, have struggled to deploy them. 

NuScale's SMR is the only one to get design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but the company abandoned its project plans in 2023 after development costs soared.

"Designing a reactor is a much different business than deploying a reactor," said Maloney. 

The clean energy sector has project developers, but the check sizes for the sector are one-tenth of that of nuclear, said Colbert. 

What's next: The nuclear developer firms will need to tap into billions of dollars of development capital to support planned nuclear projects. 

The rise of the nuclear deployment startups

The companies will need to amass development capital to pull it off.

Illustration of a nuclear power symbol combined with a restart symbol

Young project developer startups are amassing capital commitments and closing partnerships to kick-start nuclear projects.Why it matters: Strong developers could be the missing piece for nuclear projects using both traditional reactors and next-gen tech.

The rise of the nuclear deployment startups

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