US-based start-up NANO Nuclear Energy has closed its previously announced acquisition of Global First Power Limited (GFPL) from affiliates of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC).
The acquisition follows NANO Nuclear’s January 2025 acquisition from Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), following its bankruptcy, of intellectual property and other rights in the US and Canada related to the Kronos MMR microreactor (formerly USNC’s MMR Energy System) and the portable Loki MMR (formerly USNC’s Pylon microreactor). In April, NANO Nuclear signed a strategic collaboration with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) to construct the first research Kronos MMR on the university’s campus.
The strategic acquisition of GFPL represents an important step forward in NANO Nuclear’s efforts to construct, demonstrate, gain regulatory approval for and ultimately commercialise the Kronos MMR and establish a North American footprint spanning both the US and Canada. NANO Nuclear now directly owns the regulatory licensing application with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to construct a Kronos MMR Energy System demonstration project at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, Canada.
The acquisition will allow NANO Nuclear to progress towards submission of the Licence to Prepare Site (LTPS) step of the CNSC’s licensing process. GFPL previously completed several key pre-licensing steps in Canada, including successful completion of the Vendor Design Review and early submission of the first part of the LTPS.
“This move unifies our North American development strategy and allows us to rapidly advance both licensing and construction, making us one of the very few companies positioned to deploy advanced microreactors in both the US and Canada,” said Jay Yu, Founder and Chairman of NANO Nuclear. “Following this acquisition, we are no longer theorizing about North American nuclear collaboration, we are building it.”
NANO Nuclear believes that it has now acquired from USNC all remaining contractual, intellectual property, or regulatory applications in Canada that are necessary to progress the Kronos MMR in Canada. In parallel with its Canadian licensing progress, NANO Nuclear has initiated drilling and site preparation activities at its UIUC project site in the US. NANO Nuclear intends to run its Kronos MMR commercial licensing and constructions programmes in the US and Canada concurrently.
The Kronos MMR design is for a stationary, high-temperature gas-cooled microreactor designed to deliver 15 MWe (45 MWt), for multi-decade use across multiple industries and environments. Using TRISO fuel and passive helium cooling, Kronos is designed to shut down and remain in a safe state automatically without any human intervention or external power.
NANO Nuclear’s portfolio of projects includes its three microreactors in development and supporting technologies. As well as the Kronos and Loki MMRs, NANO is also designing ZEUS, a solid‑core battery reactor with a fully sealed core that uses a highly conductive moderator matrix to dissipate fission heat, that will fit within a standard shipping container.
Supporting technologies include HALEU Energy Fuel (HEF), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is focusing on the future development of a domestic source for a High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) fuel fabrication pipeline. USNC had opened a Pilot Fuel Manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge to produce fuel for testing and qualification for MMRs.
The principal consideration paid by NANO Nuclear for the GFPL acquisition was NANO Nuclear’s assumption of an approximately $640,000 liability owned by GFPL to CNSC, which NANO Nuclear expects to pay in the near future.
In a separate development, NANO announced its inclusion in Morgan Stanley’s National Security Index, which is designed to highlight leading companies driving the development of critical energy and infrastructure technologies, including nuclear power. NANO Nuclear is among the 39 companies selected for inclusion in the Index.
“NANO Nuclear’s inclusion in this Index reflects meaningful recognition of the progress we’ve made in advancing nuclear technologies that will play a vital role in strengthening the United States’ energy sovereignty and national security,” said Jay Yu. “It also provides both institutional and retail investors with another reliable way to follow our continued development and growth, reflecting NANO Nuclear’s expanding role within North America’s nuclear energy sector.”
Earlier in October, NANO Nuclear entered into securities purchase agreements with institutional investors for the purchase and sale of 8,490,767 shares of common stock in an oversubscribed private placement priced at the market under Nasdaq rules. This is expected to result in gross proceeds of $400m, before deducting offering expenses.
NANO said it would use the net proceeds: to advance development, construction and regulatory licensing activities for its Kronos MMR Energy System; continue development of its other micro reactor projects and other nuclear energy related business lines; pursue potential strategic acquisitions; and for general corporate purposes.
In September, NANO was awarded a $1.25m Direct to Phase II (D2P2) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by AFWERX to explore the feasibility of deploying its Kronos MMR Energy System at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB) in Washington DC. AFWERX is the innovation and venture arm of the US Air Force.
