Kairos Power, Natura Resources, Terrestrial Energy and Aalo Atomics plan to use Texas A&M’s 2,400-acre RELLIS Innovation and Tech Campus as a testing ground for small modular reactors (SMRs) with the goal of proving their safety, efficiency and commercial viability. Natura Resources and Aalo Atomics are based in Texas.
At a press conference Tuesday, state officials and industry leaders emphasized the urgency of expanding nuclear energy to meet increasing electricity demands, particularly with the rise of artificial intelligence and other energy-intensive technologies.
“Nuclear is a self-evident solution, and the only solution, to the energy Rubik's Cube that we’re trying to solve between cheap, abundant, reliable and clean,” Reed Clay, president of the Texas Nuclear Alliance, said during the press conference.
The first reactors could be constructed within five years, and the system of reactors could provide more than 1 gigawatt to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state power grid. One gigawatt is enough to power 100 million LED bulbs.
Texas A&M will provide infrastructure and academic resources, creating a pipeline of engineers and researchers to advance SMR technology.
“The good thing about doing it here, also, from their point of view, is all of a sudden you are doing it at the place that has the largest nuclear engineering department in the United States of America,” Chancellor John Sharp said. “This is 2,400 acres, along with a whole bunch of smart professors, a whole bunch of smart researchers and a whole bunch of smart students.”
The announcement follows a broader push for nuclear energy expansion in Texas, with Gov. Greg Abbott calling for a nuclear power renaissance in the state, and for it to be a national leader in nuclear energy.
“The agreements that the Texas A&M System has with Kairos, Natura, Terrestrial and Aalo are going to change the energy landscape for the whole country,” Joe Elabd, vice chancellor for research at Texas A&M, said in a news release.
