Nuclear power plants, like consumer electronics.
Why must a nuclear reactor be looked after?
We don’t think it has to be. We’re designing a nuclear power plant that’s built in a factory, shipped like equipment, and settles into a safe state on its own when something fails.
Safety is an attractor, not an action.
Today’s nuclear plants stay safe because of trained operators on every shift, maintenance crews, detailed emergency procedures, and layers of backup systems.
Our first principle is that a reactor’s safety shouldn’t hinge on a valve opening, a command getting through, a backup system starting up, or an operator acting at exactly the right moment.
When the conditions that keep it running are lost, its own physics and design should carry it into a safe state and keep it there.
Stopping the chain reaction is only the first part. A reactor keeps producing heat for days after shutdown, so it also has to shed that heat, keep its radioactive material contained, and stay stable over the long term.
What we believe.
- Safety by nature
- Safety should come from how the reactor is built and how its physics behaves.
- Operation is conditional
- The reactor may need power, cooling, or control to keep running. Losing any of them should leave it in a safe state.
- No sacred architecture
- We keep control rods, the usual fuel layout, or a familiar core shape only if they serve the safety goal. That includes asking whether a control rod is needed at all. Where a conventional solution does the job, we use it.
- Products, not projects
- We want to build the same plant many times and test it the same way each time, instead of designing a new one for every site.
- Autonomy is a consequence
- Running without a crew and installing in remote places become possible once the reactor is safe on its own.
What we want to build.
A nuclear plant today behaves a lot like a living thing. It needs constant care, and it gets into trouble when the care stops. We want to build one that behaves like electronics.
| Topic | Today: like a living thing | Our goal: like electronics |
|---|---|---|
| When it stops or fails | Needs cooling and someone to step in | Settles into a safe state by itself |
| Running | Watched around the clock | Runs without a crew |
| Where it can go | Needs a wide emergency planning zone around it | Next to the factory or data center it powers |
| Building it | One of a kind, built for its site | Identical units, made and tested in a factory |
| Getting power | Years of construction before first power | Power soon after delivery |
| Moving it | Stays where it was built | Ships to where power is needed |
| Paying for it | Financed like a construction megaproject | Bought or leased like equipment |
| More power | Build another plant | Add another unit |
| End of life | Taken apart on site over decades | Goes back to the factory |
A plant can go wherever power is needed.
Energy without geographical dependence.
Get in touch.
Building this will take extraordinary people. We’d be glad to hear from you.