Swedish nuclear technology start-up Blykalla has formed a partnership with Microsoft to tackle one of the nuclear sector’s most persistent bottlenecks: the complex permitting and licensing process. Blykalla is deploying Microsoft’s GenAI for Energy Permitting Solution Accelerator alongside agentic AI workflows.
Operating in both English and Swedish, the digital system automates the evaluation of reactor data against strict regulatory criteria and drafts compliant filings. According to Jon Christensen, Head of AI at Blykalla, the collaboration aims to compress regulatory documentation timelines from years to months, reducing required time and resources by 90% while fully maintaining nuclear safety standards.
The AI-driven workflows are being implemented to accelerate licensing for Blykalla’s SEALER (Swedish Advanced Lead Reactor – a compact, lead-cooled advanced modular reactor (AMR) designed to power industrial facilities and AI data centres. The platform supports active regulatory bids on two major fronts. In Sweden, applications are underway to construct two commercial advanced reactor parks -one in Norrsundet and another at Untra in the Tierp municipality. In the US, Pre-application discussions and technical filings have begun with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
“AI is driving the demand for new nuclear,” said Jon Christensen, Head of AI at Blykalla. “It can also help deliver it faster. Together with Microsoft, we aim to take licensing documentation from years to months, cutting time and resources by 90% while keeping the rigor regulators expect. Blykalla is embracing AI across the company as a critical lever to make the nuclear renaissance happen at speed.”
Darryl Willis, Corporate Vice President, Energy & Resources Industry at Microsoft noted: “Microsoft is committed to leveraging AI to enable carbon-free, reliable energy. We are pleased to partner with Blykalla to turn regulatory complexity into actionable intelligence as it moves the SEALER through licensing and into commercialisation.”
The company was spun out of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 2013, where its founders had been conducting lead-cooled reactor research since 1996. Key corporate partners and backers include Uniper, OKG, and ABB. The R&D at KTH focused on materials science, fluid dynamics, and resolving liquid lead corrosion challenges. Liquid lead is highly corrosive to standard reactor components. Blykalla is developing and patenting aluminium-alloyed steel formulations that offer corrosion resistance to molten lead at high temperatures.
In 2024, construction began on an electrical (non-nuclear) prototype in Oskarshamn, Sweden, to test the lead-cooled thermal systems in a real-world environment. Groundbreaking for the non-nuclear testing facility took place in February 2025 at the OKG NPP site in Oskarshamn. In March, Blykalla established a permanent corporate office in New York to market SEALER technology for AI data centres.
Blykalla submitted its first commercial application to the Swedish government to build a six-SMR “advanced nuclear reactor park” at Norrsundet and in August applied for Swedish government financing to construct an eight-unit, 440-MW reactor park at Untra in the Tierp municipality. First criticality of its pilot nuclear plant, SEALER-One is targeting 2029 in a planned partnership with Studsvik at Nyköping. Operation of the Norrsundet and Untra reactor parks and the commencement of factory mass production of SEALER-55 commercial units are expected in the 2030s.
