TEXAS A&M PARTNERING WITH FOUR COMPANIES TO BUILD NUCLEAR REACTORS AT RELLIS

  

The Texas A&M University System is providing land at the RELLIS campus to four nuclear reactor companies to develop small modular reactors (SMRs). 

The university announced today (Tuesday) that Kairos Power, Natura Resources, Terrestrial Energy and Aalo Atomics will work with the A&M system to bring reactors to RELLIS as part of a project called “The Energy Proving Ground.”  The companies, according to a university press release, will work toward bringing commercial-ready technologies to the A&M System land and testing new prototypes. 

Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp said in a press conference that the university will be the first one in the United States to serve as a test bed for SMRs, demonstrating their capability as “the power of the future.”

Texas A&M said it has streamlined the regulatory process to allow the four companies to quickly get their reactors online.  The proposed site could accommodate multiple SMRs, with a combined electrical output of more than a gigawatt, which is enough to power 750,000 homes.

Joe Elabd, Vice Chancellor for Research at Texas A&M, said these agreements “are going to change the energy landscape for the whole country.”

The goal is to build the first reactors within five years, with power generated from the site potentially supplying energy to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).