Advanced Nuclear Startup Terrestrial Energy Lands Initial Funding

Canadian startup becomes first advanced reactor developer to land significant outside backing.

One of the most promising developers of advanced nuclear power plants, the Canadian startup Terrestrial Energy [that uses Molten Salt Reactors], has landed $7 million in funding.  Although the investment is small, it is an important signal that the private sector might back innovative nuclear reactors as the search for low- or no-carbon forms of power generation accelerates.

[Molten Salt Reactors (“MSRs”) are nuclear reactors that use a fluid fuel in the form of a molten fluoride or chloride salt.   This is a fundamentally different approach compared to conventional nuclear systems that use solid fuel.  A liquid fuel offers unique advantages not enjoyed by reactors that use solid fuel.   As an MSR fuel salt is a liquid, it functions as both the fuel (producing the heat) and the coolant (transporting the heat away and ultimately to the power plant).  This represents a revolutionary paradigm in nuclear reactor safety: a reactor that cannot lose coolant and cannot melt down, a reactor with a completely fresh narrative on civilian nuclear safety.]

More than $1.3 billion in private capital has been invested in North American companies working on advanced nuclear reactor technologies, according to Third Way, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.  But much of that money has gone to companies pursuing nuclear fusion, which is in a far earlier stage than technologies that employ fission, the conventional form of nuclear power.

In addition to the money Terrestrial Energy has raised from undisclosed investors, Transatomic Power, a nuclear startup founded by a pair of MIT PhDs, has raised $6.3 million from investors including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.  Nevertheless, many new nuclear startups are still scrambling to fund their research and development programs.  Terrestrial’s funding is “good news for everyone,” says Transatomic founder Leslie Dewan, “because it provides market validation for the sector as a whole.”

The funding comes two months after the White House held a nuclear energy summit at which the U.S. Department of Energy announced a program to help facilitate and finance innovation in nuclear power, called the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN).  The program was created to overcome regulatory and institutional barriers to getting unconventional reactor designs approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and built in the United States (see “White House Strikes a Blow for Advanced Nuclear Reactors”).

Read more at Advanced Nuclear Startup Terrestrial Energy Lands Initial Funding