The startup’s progress includes preliminary NRC approval and plans to begin construction in Texas, positioning itself within the next generation of nuclear energy developers
By Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
One of the new modular reactor design startups aiming for next-gen nuclear success accelerated a major financial leap forward by raising US$380 million from several private capital investors.
Blue Energy’s latest successful funding round was led by VXI Capital with backing from Engine Ventures, At One Ventures and Tamarack Global. Blue Energy was created to develop prefabricated nuclear plants which theoretically could be crafted off-site, delivered, assembled and completed in 48 months.
The rise of data center and artificial intelligence energy demand is driving hyperscalers and other computing facility developers to seek behind-the-meter and added dependable capacity solutions whether they are gas-fired or next-gen nuclear. Many of those data center customers also are investing in future nuclear for its baseload and carbon-free attributes.
“This funding marks an important step in Blue Energy’s mission to make new nuclear more deployable, predictable, and financeable,” Blue Energy CEO and co-founder Jake Jurewicz said in a statement. “By combining offsite prefabrication, standardized plant delivery and a disciplined development model, we believe Blue Energy can reduce cost and compress timelines with the goal of making nuclear power competitive with fossil fuel and renewables – all without sacrificing safety. Blue Energy is developing a nuclear power product designed to scale at a time when the world needs it most.”
No small modular reactor nuclear projects have been built or commissioned in the US. so far. Many startups such as Blue Energy, X-energy, Oklo and NANO Nuclear hope to finalize funding commitments and US regulatory approvals so they can energize SMR plants by the early 2030s.
Blue Energy has reportedly announced expectations to begin construction on its first project in Texas by the third quarter of this year. Earlier this year, the company announced it received preliminary US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval for a licensing topical report around its plan to convert gas-fired power plants into next-gen nuclear reactor generation.
“The Blue Energy team has made remarkable progress de-risking the single hardest problem in nuclear — the cost structure that makes it project-financeable,” said general partner at Engine Ventures and board director at Blue Energy Michael Kearney. “Their manufacturing and development approach is what finally positions nuclear to run down the cost curve necessary for rapid deployment to meet this moment of demand growth, and we couldn’t be more excited to back them on that path.”
Jurewicz and his team founded Blue Energy only three years ago. Speaking earlier this year at the CERAWeek Conference in Houston, Jurewicz spoke about the grid capacity issues facing the US, noting the constraints were expected long before ChatGPT and OpenAI came on the scene.
“It’s not just an AI thing,” Jurewicz said during a CERAWeek session . “Before ChatGPT, (grid operators such as ) MISO, PJM and others were throwing out alerts” about grid power constraints and long interconnection queues to get projects commercially operational.
