The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) and the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) have selected the first group of developers for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, an initiative announced in March to advance nuclear technologies toward commercial deployment.
DOE said four entities were competitively selected from applicants previously involved in the Reactor Pilot Program and the Fuel Line Pilot Program. The selected participants are Deployable Energy, General Matter, NuCube Energy in partnership with Idaho State University and Radiant Nuclear. Inclusion in the programme allows these companies to begin discussion with NRIC on the enhanced technical, regulatory and deployment support Launch Pad is able to provide.
The Launch Pad initiative builds on DOE’s reactor and fuel pilot programmes, which were established in line with Executive Order 14301, Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy, signed by President Donald Trump in May 2025. It will now replace those programmes, which are no longer accepting applications.
NRIC Director Brad Tomer said the initiative expands beyond reactor and fuel technologies to welcome a broader range of nuclear applications, offering more pathways and flexibility for developers to move projects toward deployment.
The Launch Pad established two tracks: one for projects at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and another for projects across the US with access to regulatory and technical resources. At that time, DOE said it had accepted 11 projects from 10 companies into the Reactor Pilot Program and nine into the Fuel Line Pilot Program. The 10 companies accepted into the reactor programme were: Aalo Atomics, Antares Nuclear, Atomic Alchemy, Deep Fission, Last Energy, Natura Resources LLC, Oklo (selected for two projects), Radiant Industries, Terrestrial Energy, and Valar Atomics. Of the nine accepted into the fuel line programme, only five were identified – Standard Nuclear, Oklo, Terrestrial Energy, X-energy’s TRISO-X LLC, and Valar Atomics.
Of the four now selected for the Launch Pad, only Radiant was selected for the pilot programmes. However, the Launch Pad companies were drawn not only from those selected for the pilot programmes but also from those that applied but were not selected. These include Deployable Energy and NuCube Energy, which applied for the reactor pilot programme. General Matter was among applicants for the fuel line programme.
Deployable Energy is developing the Unity Nuclear Battery (UNB), a 1‑MWe gas‑cooled microreactor that uses an actively cooled helium primary loop and standard low-enriched uranium dioxide fuel. It is engineered for factory manufacture and shipment in a standard 20-foot container for deployment in remote, distributed, maritime, and defence applications. It expects to achieve criticality by July 2026.
NuCube Energy in partnership with Idaho State University, is developing a modular fission microreactor designed to produce both electricity and very high‑temperature process heat for industrial applications. The design uses TRISO fuel and heat pipe technology housed in a stainless-steel compartment to reduce moving parts and support factory fabrication and road-transportable deployment. The company is targeting data centres, microgrids, and industrial heat users.
Radiant Nuclear is developing the Kaleidos “high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) and has already begun utilising testbeds at Idaho National Laboratory. Kaleidos is a 1 MWe TRISO-fuelled HTGR designed for transportable, off-grid military and remote power applications.
General Matter, the only fuel-focused entity among the four, is building what it calls the first privately developed, US-owned commercial uranium enrichment complex at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Paducah, Kentucky. Under a $900m DOE contract announced in January 2026, the company said it plans to produce and supply HALEU for the nation’s advanced reactors.
While the four companies named for the Launch Pad were competitively selected from the existing pool of Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program applicants, NRIC plans to launch an official call for Launch Pad applications “in the coming weeks and anticipates announcing additional selections for the initiative later this year”.
The request for applicants (RFA) will mirror the review criteria and documentation requirements of the predecessor programmes. Companies that already applied to either the Reactor Pilot Program or Fuel Line Pilot Program will not need to reapply – their existing application materials will be eligible for Launch Pad review. While DOE plans to issue the RFA on an annual basis, applications will be accepted and evaluated on a continual basis following each issuance.
The broader strategy of the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad is to move away from isolated, small-scale tests and toward a fully integrated “innovation ecosystem” that addresses the entire nuclear technology stack. Instead of managing fuel and reactors as separate entities, the DOE’s new strategy focuses on three core pillars:
- The pilot programmes were designed to prove individual components. The Launch Pad merges these, ensuring that a reactor developer (such as Deployable Energy) has a direct, synchronised connection to a fuel developer (such as General Matter). This prevents a situation in which reactors are ready but have no domestic fuel to run them.
- The original pilots were strictly for “research and demonstration” and could not provide commercial power. The Launch Pad expands this scope to include extended operational validation, which is the final testing phase needed to convince investors and utilities that these technologies are ready for the grid. It bridges the “commercialisation gap” by providing operational testing -scaling first-of-a-kind technologies toward wide-scale deployment – and standardising the regulatory and technical hurdles that typically stall projects.
- The strategy introduces two specific pathways to remove “siting complexity” as a barrier: Launch Pad INLprovides dedicated plots of land (over 2,000 acres) at Idaho National Laboratory with existing power and water hookups; Launch Pad USA allows for operation at non-federal sites, which is vital for microreactors intended for remote data centres or industrial parks.
This shift is part of a larger Nuclear Dominance – 3 by 33 campaign, announced earlier in April, which aims to secure a 100% domestic fuel supply chain and accelerate advanced reactor deployment by 2033. The campaign is built around three core goals, coordinated through the Defense Production Act (DPA) Nuclear Fuel Cycle Consortium, which includes more than 90 domestic companies:
- Catalyse a Secure Domestic Fuel Supply: The primary aim is to rebuild the entire domestic fuel cycle, including milling, conversion, enrichment (like the work done by General Matter), and recycling.
- Accelerate Advanced Reactor Deployment: This goal focuses on fast-tracking the testing and commercial use of next-generation reactors (like those from Deployable, NuCube, and Radiant) while simultaneously working to close the fuel cycle.
- Strengthen Infrastructure & Workforce: The campaign uses the DPA framework to align private finance, specialised workforce development, and innovation to support a massive nuclear build-out.
To jumpstart these goals, DOE is launching a series of 60-day sprints. These are rapid-action cycles designed to deliver quick, measurable progress in reducing reliance on foreign enriched uranium and critical materials. Financing for the Nuclear Dominance – 3 by 33 initiative is built on a hybrid model that blends aggressive federal intervention with private sector investment. Instead of traditional government grants, the financing strategy relies on milestone-based payments, low-cost federal loans, and direct task orders to de-risk projects for private investors.
However, the Launch Pad website makes it clear that DOE will provide no funding. All costs for authorisation – Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing, and any engagement with INL or other national laboratories – should be borne by the participant and spelled out in the agreement instrument between DOE and the developer.
According to Tomer: “There’s a lot of reactor developers waiting in the wings to use the Launch Pad,” He added that NRIC expects to play this bridge-to-deployment role through its testbeds and the Launch Pad “for at least the next 10 years or so”.
