In an effort to assist the state in meeting its future energy needs, Texas A&M University has partnered with four energy businesses to potentially construct nuclear reactors close to its campus.
Four businesses—Kairos Power, Natura Resources, Terrestrial Energy, and Aalo Atomics—will collaborate to construct miniature nuclear reactors at A&M’s Rellis site, a 2,400-acre innovation and technology campus near Bryan, the university announced Tuesday. According to the university, the first reactors might be built in five years.
A nuclear facility in the state is already under construction, according to Douglass Robison, president of Natura Resources and a former employee of the Permian Basin oil fields in West Texas.
“In collaboration with the Texas Produced Water Consortium, we announced last week that we would be deploying a molten salt reactor in the Permian Basin to desalinate produced water and supply operating power to the Permian,” he said. And then, of course, this wonderful chance at the Rellis campus this week.”
In order to build the small modular reactors, or SMRs, the businesses were offered land close to Texas A&M by Chancellor John Sharp. According to the university, reactor manufacturers have otherwise been unable to locate appropriate locations for groups of nuclear reactors that can provide adequate electricity for data centers, artificial intelligence initiatives, and other projects of a similar nature.
According to Simon Irish, CEO of the Canadian company Terrestrial Energy, “We are kickingstarting the future of nuclear energy.” We intend to construct a fleet of cutting-edge power plants, not only an integral molten salt reactor facility, which is our power plant design. And Texas A&M is where that journey starts.
The alliance may have a big influence on how energy is delivered in the United States in the future, according to Joe Elabd, Texas A&M’s vice chancellor for research. The initiative is being dubbed The Energy Proving Ground by the university.
“The agreements that the Texas A&M System has with Kairos, Natura, Terrestrial and Aalo are going to change the energy landscape for the whole country,” Elabd stated. “The Energy Proving Ground will allow these companies to safely test their SMRs and set the stage for deploying small nuclear reactors across the country.”
