French nuclear start-ups Jimmy Energy and Calogena have secured a combined €180m ($210m) in new funding to finalise their small modular reactor (SMR) designs. Both companies were established as France pivoted towards supporting SMR innovation under the France 2030 investment plan. They gained significant momentum in 2023 when they were selected as winners of the French government’s “Innovative Nuclear Reactors” call for projects.
Jimmy Energy, a spin-off from the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA – Commissariat à l’énergie Atomique et aux énergies Alternatives), founded in November 2020, secured €80m. The round consists of €40m in private equity and €40m in renewed public support from the France 2030 plan. Private financing was led by Crédit Mutuel Impact, with participation from ADEME Investissement and existing shareholders such as Otium Capital. The funds will be used to complete detailed design work, hire roughly 50 additional staff, and obtain Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) approval.
Jimmy is developing a helium-cooled, graphite-moderated high-temperature micro-reactor utilising TRISO (Tri-structural Isotropic) fuel which will initially be supplied by Urenco Ltd’s plant in New Mexico. The reactor has a design life of 20 years with only one or two refuelling operations.
“The goal is to complete the detailed design with suppliers, and to obtain the approval from the nuclear safety authority for the first of a kind,” co-founder and CEO Antoine Guyot, of Jimmy Energy told Bloomberg. He added that Jimmy is targeting its reactors at European food, paper and chemicals makers, generating high-temperature heat for processes that would be more competitive than using natural gas. The 60 MWt units would take two-and-a-half years to build, and cost between €100-200m. Construction of the first unit is targeted for 2029 to supply steam for a sugar and alcohol producer east of Paris.
Calogena, a subsidiary of the Gorgé industrial group (the parent company of Exail Technologies), established in December 2021, secured around €100m. This includes a €48m grant from the France 2030 “Innovative Small Nuclear Reactors” call for projects, combined with a private capital increase backed by Gorgé SA, along with SNEF, Banque des Territoires, and other investors.
The funding is designated to accelerate the industrialisation of Calogena’s CAL30, a 30 MWt low-pressure water boiler designed specifically for district heating networks, using standard uranium dioxide (3.4% enriched) fuel rods. It is targeted for deployment starting in 2030, with active feasibility studies underway at the CEA’s Cadarache site.
“These very significant funds provide us with visibility for more than two years. By 2028, we will have completed the basic design of our reactor, submitted our construction authorisation application for the first-of-a-kind unit, and achieved our first commercial successes in France and Europe,” said Calogena CEO Julien Dereux.
