Standard Nuclear has emerged from stealth following a funding round that raised $42m to develop advanced nuclear fuel. The funding round was led by Decisive Point with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Crucible Capital, Fundomo, and Washington Harbour Partners.
Standard Nuclear is built on assets purchased at auction following the bankruptcy of the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) for $28m. Standard CEO, Kurt Terrani, previously served as Vice President at USNC.
Standard Nuclear says it has $100m in non-binding fuel sales for 2027, and that it is working with customers including Nano Nuclear Energy, which acquired other USNC assets in the bankruptcy auction, and Radiant Industries, another Decisive Point portfolio company. In a statement to TechCrunch, Standard Nuclear acknowledged the bankruptcy purchase, saying that it “accelerated the launch” of its timeline.
USNC had been working to commercialise TRISO (TRIstructural-ISOtropic) nuclear fuel. TRISO refers to a specific design of uranium nuclear reactor fuel. TRIstructural refers to the layers of carbon- and ceramic-based coatings surrounding the uranium fuel. ISOtropic refers to the coatings having uniform materials characteristics in all directions so that fission products are retained. A number of advanced reactor designs intend to use TRISO fuel.
USNC was founded on a relatively well-known technology, but the company’s development was difficult. USNC was substantially funded by one investor, Richard Hollis Helms and his family, who over the years invested $100m into the company along with $24.7m in loans. The company had a diverse business model, developing not just TRISO nuclear fuel, but also two different reactor designs, a nuclear space propulsion system, and a nuclear heating source for spacecraft.
Helms began his career with the CIA as an Arabist in the Middle East but retired in the wake of 9/1. He used his retirement to found two national security-related companies: Abraxis, which sold for $124m in 2010, and Ntrepid, which is still privately held. In 2022, USNC started looking for investors but the company was slow to bring in significant revenue, and when Helms died in 2024, debts were mounting. USNC declared bankruptcy in October 2024. Standard Nuclear, led at that point by Decisive Point founder Thomas Hendrix, entered a bid for USNC’s fuel-related assets for $28m that same month. The sale was completed in February, including the property that today serves as Standard Nuclear’s base of operations. Standard’s CEO is currently Dr Kurt Terrani.
The company website says it is a manufacturer of TRISO fuel, “which is essential to advanced nuclear reactors for both terrestrial and space applications”. The company “also offers a reactor-agnostic supply of advanced fuels to the new nuclear industry and delivers dependable radioisotope power solutions to the space and defence sectors”. Through these efforts, “it is helping to eliminate US reliance on geopolitical adversaries for these technologies”.
