Kairos Power is the only company in the country actively building a small modular nuclear reactor.
The California startup got there while taking a moonshot approach, betting on two commercially unproven technologies at once: modular design and nonwater cooling. The experimental reactor it is building in Tennessee uses molten fluoride salt as a coolant — a Generation IV technology so far commercially untested.
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The company is constructing two demonstration reactors in Tennessee. Hermes will test their design’s most basic mechanics, with Hermes 2 incorporating electricity generation and other systems. With construction permits from the NRC for both, Kairos has already begun pouring concrete and welding rebar at the site.
As of July, Hermes is the only SMR under construction in North America, according to the World Nuclear Association.
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