It was announced last Tuesday that four small-scale nuclear reactors are to be hosted on Texas A&M University land. CEOs from four nuclear power companies have agreed to work with the Texas A&M System to develop prototype and commercial-ready "small modular reactors" (SMRs). The first SMR has the potential to be constructed within five years.
Smaller than their traditional commercial nuclear reactors counterparts, SMRs are designed so that their components can be factory-built and assembled at their site of use. They could be particularly useful for remote locations, for industrial applications and powering facilities like data centers.
Texas A&M says that its accommodation of the reactors will provide the "missing element" needed to bring more nuclear power to Texas. “Plain and simple: the United States needs more power” said Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp in a statement. “Nowhere in the country, other than Texas, is anyone willing to step up and build the power plants we need. Thanks to the leadership of Gov. Greg Abbott and others in Texas state government, Texas A&M System stands ready to step up and do what is necessary for the country to thrive." The four SMRs will be built at Texas A&M-RELLIS, a twenty-four-hundred-acre technology and innovation campus in Bryan, Texas.
According to the university, reactor manufacturers had been struggling to find sites to build clusters of the small-scale fission reactors. Power generated at this "Energy Proving Ground" could be used to increase the supply of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). The university has projected that the four reactors built at the site will have a combined electrical output of more than one gigawatt. This is equivalent to a full-sized nuclear power reactor.
The companies involved in the collaboration are Aalo Atomics, Kairos Power, Natura Resources and Terrestrial Energy.
Matt Loszak is the co-founder and CEO of Aalo Atomics. He said, “We are excited to partner with an innovation leader like the Texas A&M System, and to jointly help shape the future of energy while creating opportunities for research, education and the Texas economy.” Aalto Atomics intends to build up to six "pods" at the Texas A&M–RELLIS site. Each pod will contain multiple reactors with each reactor having a ten-megawatt output. For comparison, a regular-sized commercial nuclear reactor typically has an output of around one thousand megawatts. Loszak added, “This collaboration is a pivotal step for Aalo as it provides us with a platform to demonstrate the potential of our factory mass-manufactured nuclear technology to deliver reliable, clean energy that will ultimately power the next generation of data centers and AI infrastructure."
Joe Elabd is the Texas A&M vice chancellor for research. He said, “The Energy Proving Ground will allow these companies to safely test their SMRs and set the stage for deploying small nuclear reactors across the country. 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. The Energy Proving Ground will allow these companies to safely test their SMRs (small modular reactors) and set the stage for deploying small nuclear reactors across the country.”
Texas A&M