Blue Energy will raise $380M to build larger nuclear reactors in shipyards

As the group struggles under the weight of electricity and data center AI, technology companies and organizations have been evaluating whether nuclear power can help reduce the burden. After the two most recent reactors built in the US went over budget with the old plan, they don’t want to repeat the past.

But Jake Jurewicz, co-founder and CEO of Blue Energy, believes the solution to building faster, cheaper can be found in the history of the industry.

The cost of Blue Energy they want to build nuclear reactors in shipyards because these facilities can hold more metal and can be easily transported to the project site after completion.

“The most common nuclear power technology — light water reactors — was developed at the beginning of nuclear power,” Jurewicz told TechCrunch. “There’s always been a history of pre-production and focus on the shipyard.”

To begin development on its first power plant – a 1.5 gigawatt project expected to begin construction later this year in Texas – Blue Energy has raised $380 million in a mix of debt and equity financing. The round was led by VXI Capital with participation from At One Ventures, Engine Ventures, and Tamarack Global.

Unlike many nuclear startups, Blue Energy is not building new systems, and instead is rethinking the way reactors and power plants are built. Jurewicz was inspired by Venture Global’s approach to building natural gas export facilities. A friend works at the company, and when Jurewicz heard more about his approach to building LNG projects, he said, “it really clicked.”

“They cut the process in the middle of doing this, which was very confusing,” he said.

By moving more of the specialized construction to the shipyard, Blue Energy hopes that the highly regulated space will eventually lead to more automation and cost savings.

“It reduces the amount of construction on site, and it really moves everything into a production area. So once you put all that work in, you can start moving away from manual welding,” he said.

Once the control systems and other equipment are completed in the shipyard, the company plans to move them to the installation site via barge. Although this reduces the number of sites that Blue Energy can respond to, the company can still use streams to reach the US, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

“Most of our people and most of our goods happen around water,” Jurewicz said.

Blue Energy says its approach has attracted interest from donors to support the project.

“We have been working for a long time with many construction funds and banks, including three major banks that provide financing for the project that have responded to our RFP, which is a strong sign that they see that what we are considering is worth the money,” he said.

The key to such investment, Jurewicz added, is the company’s desire to reduce construction costs, which have risen sharply due to nuclear power in recent years.

“This is the future of nuclear weapons. It’s not technology, it’s how we reduce construction costs and construction time and go to a place where it can be detected,” he said.