Kairos Power gets up to $100M from Samsung group to build nuclear reactor for Google
News Source
β’Mon, 21 Sep 2026 18:23:05 +0000
π° What Happened
Nuclear startup Kairos Power has picked engineering firm Samsung C&T to help build a 50-megawatt test reactor for Google. The goal is to have it running by 2030.
Samsung C&T will also invest in Kairos and provide engineering work, worth up to $100 million in total. About $70 million of that is a direct investment.
Kairos is already building two reactors in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Hermes 1 is a low-power test unit, and Hermes 2 is its first commercial-size reactor.
π The Backstory
AI data centres use huge amounts of electricity. That has driven a wave of deals between tech companies and nuclear startups.
Google first signed with Kairos in late 2024, asking for reactors that could make about half a gigawatt of power by 2035. Samsung C&T has built or helped build about a dozen nuclear reactors around the world.
Kairos won approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in late 2024. Hermes 2 will use a fluoride salt-cooled design, which has been discussed for years but never built at commercial scale.
π― Why It Matters
AI's power demand is pushing tech giants to fund new nuclear plants. If these reactors work, they could supply clean power day and night, not just when the sun shines.
Nuclear startup Kairos Power has picked engineering firm Samsung C&T to help build a 50-megawatt test reactor for Google. The goal is to have it running by 2030.
Samsung C&T will also invest in Kairos and provide engineering work, worth up to $100 million in total. About $70 million of that is a direct investment.
Kairos is already building two reactors in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Hermes 1 is a low-power test unit, and Hermes 2 is its first commercial-size reactor.
AI data centres use huge amounts of electricity. That has driven a wave of deals between tech companies and nuclear startups.
Google first signed with Kairos in late 2024, asking for reactors that could make about half a gigawatt of power by 2035. Samsung C&T has built or helped build about a dozen nuclear reactors around the world.
Kairos won approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in late 2024. Hermes 2 will use a fluoride salt-cooled design, which has been discussed for years but never built at commercial scale.
AI's power demand is pushing tech giants to fund new nuclear plants. If these reactors work, they could supply clean power day and night, not just when the sun shines.