Science
fromTheregister
3 days agoX-energy scores $700M investment to make SMR dream come true
X-energy secured $700 million funding, pre-booked 144 SMRs totaling over 11 GW, and aims to deploy Xe-100 reactors using TRISO-X fuel across US and UK.
But analysis from the Centre for Net Zero (CNZ) says it would cost 43 percent less to power a 120 MW data facility with renewables and a small amount of gas-generated energy, when compared with an SMR. It claims that a microgrid comprising offshore wind, solar, battery storage, and backed up by gas generation, would be significantly cheaper to run annually than procuring power sourced from a nuclear SMR.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and United States President Donald Trump have signed a multibillion-pound deal to expand nuclear power across both nations. Known as the Atlantic Partnership for Advanced Nuclear Energy, the agreement aims to speed up the construction of new reactors and provide reliable, low-carbon energy for high-demand sectors, including energy-intensive artificial intelligence data centres. Britain's largest energy supplier, Centrica, will pair up with the US firm X-energy