US firm’s first-of-its-kind nuclear reactor gets funding boost to power data centers
Advanced nuclear firm Aalo Atomics announced it has secured $100 million in new capital and regulatory support to complete its first reactor at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
The project, selected for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) new Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program, aims to demonstrate a future where dedicated nuclear reactors directly power the massive energy needs of artificial intelligence.
In an announcement on August 19, the Austin-based company detailed its successful Series B funding round led by Valor Equity Partners. The raise, which also included participants like Hitachi Ventures, NRG, and Fine Structure Ventures, brings Aalo’s total capital to over $136 million.
Critical for ambitious timeline
This financial backing is critical for the company’s ambitious timeline. Aalo aims to finish construction of its 10 MWe Aalo-X reactor and achieve “cold criticality” — a key step in starting up a nuclear reactor — by July 2026.
“This could be the first advanced nuclear power plant to turn on in the US in decades,” Matt Loszak, CEO and co-founder of Aalo Atomics, told the Power Magazine.
“This is not just a test reactor, but rather a full plant that will produce electricity.”
In a move highlighting the growing synergy between the energy and tech sectors, Loszak revealed plans to build an experimental data center directly alongside the Aalo-X reactor.
“The Aalo-X—the X stands for experimental—could actually be the world’s first co-located and co-built nuclear-planted data center,” he explained.
Building full-scale non-nuclear prototype
While data centers have previously been located near existing nuclear plants, Loszak noted this would be the first time the two facilities are “built hand in hand,” creating unique efficiencies. The company is reportedly in discussions with several potential partners for the project.
Aalo Atomics is positioning itself as a solution to the slow pace often associated with nuclear development. In a press release, the company highlighted its rapid progress, going from initial hiring to building a full-scale non-nuclear prototype at its 40,000-square-foot pilot factory in less than two years.
“In a world where nuclear energy acceptance is at an all-time high, the main remaining objection is that it’s ‘too slow’,” the company stated. “Aalo exists to change that.”
A broader ‘master plan
The Aalo-X reactor is the first step in a broader “master plan.” The company intends to first prove the speed, reliability, and economics of its factory-manufactured reactors for the data center market.
Following that, it plans to expand into other markets like municipal utilities and industrial heat before developing a next-generation reactor that is approximately ten times more powerful, further driving down costs toward a goal of 3 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Earlier this year, the Texas-based company unveiled its fully modular reactor’s design. Dubbed the Aalo Pod, the company says that the prototype belongs to the category of XMR, or an extra modular reactor with extra flexibility and modularity.
The Aalo Pod is a 50MWe extra modular reactor, and the modularity of the design allows easy scaling from 100s of MW to 1,000s of MW as the demand for energy grows.