Energy · Profile from Energy Research Companion
Kairos Power
A privately funded reactor developer from Alameda, California, founded in 2016 by nuclear engineers from the University of California, Berkeley, that is trying to de-risk a new reactor type — a fluoride-salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor using TRISO pebble fuel — the way a manufacturer would rather than the way a utility would: by building its own hardware, its own salt and its own test units, and by stepping up through small reactors before a commercial one. Its first test reactor, Hermes (35 MWt, non-power) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, received the first US construction permit for a non-light-water reactor in decades (Dec 2023); Hermes 2 received permits in November 2024, was redesigned as a single ~50 MWe power-producing unit after a first-of-its-kind power purchase agreement with TVA (Aug 2025), and broke ground on 17 Apr 2026 with operation targeted by 2030 (company). In October 2024 Google agreed to buy up to 500 MW from a fleet of Kairos reactors by 2035 — the first corporate agreement for a fleet of advanced reactors. The company's test was whether iteration could beat the first-of-a-kind trap; the first setback came in 2026, when the NRC extended Hermes 1's construction deadline from 31 Dec 2026 to 30 Apr 2029.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2016, by Mike Laufer, Per Peterson and Ed Blandford, among others, building on UC Berkeley and DOE-funded research into fluoride-salt-cooled high-temperature reactors (FHRs) (company; verify founding team)
- Headquarters
- Alameda, California; Manufacturing Development Campus in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Hermes sites at the East Tennessee Technology Park (former K-25/K-33 gaseous-diffusion site), Oak Ridge, Tennessee
- Ownership / structure
- Private; funded by its founders' backers and private investors not fully disclosed (verify), plus DOE cost-share; no public listing
- Leadership (2026)
- Mike Laufer (co-founder and CEO); Per Peterson (co-founder; Berkeley professor; chief nuclear officer, verify); Ed Blandford (co-founder; chief technology officer, verify)
- Technology
- KP-FHR: TRISO-coated particle fuel in graphite pebbles, cooled by molten fluoride salt (Flibe: lithium fluoride–beryllium fluoride) at near-atmospheric pressure; high outlet temperatures (~650 °C, company, verify)
- Projects
- Hermes (35 MWt test reactor, non-power; permit Dec 2023; construction deadline extended to 30 Apr 2029); Hermes 2 (permits Nov 2024 for two 35 MWt units; redesigned as one ~50 MWe power unit; ground broken 17 Apr 2026; operation by 2030); commercial KP-FHR plants for Google's 500 MW programme by 2035
- Customers
- Google (up to 500 MW by 2035, Oct 2024); TVA (PPA for up to 50 MW from Hermes 2, Aug 2025), with Google receiving the clean-energy attributes
- Federal support
- DOE ARDP Risk Reduction award (Dec 2020), DOE share reported at ~$303m (verify total project value); DOE HALEU contract for Hermes (Jan 2026); ~$27m partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Feb 2026, reported)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding and the fluoride-salt design (2016); ARDP risk-reduction award (2020); in-house manufacturing and engineering test units (2021–25); Hermes construction permit (2023); Hermes 2 permits and redesign (2024–26); Google 500 MW agreement (2024); TVA–Hermes 2 PPA (2025); Hermes 1 delay and the HALEU contract (2026)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2016
Founding and the Fluoride Salt Design
Founding / technology bet
2020
DOE ARDP Risk Reduction Award
Financing (state support: cost-shared federal award)
2021
In House Manufacturing and Engineering Test Units
Strategy (vertical integration) / technology bet
2023
Hermes Construction Permit
Regulatory approval
2024
Google 500 MW Agreement
Offtake or supply contract (master plant development / fleet agreement)
2024
Hermes 2 Permit and Redesign
Regulatory approval / construction (with design change)
2025
TVA Hermes 2 PPA
Offtake or supply contract (utility PPA with attributes passed to a hyperscaler)
2026
Hermes 1 Delay and the HALEU Contract
Construction schedule slip (failure) / fuel supply contract