US nuclear start-up Blue Energy, spun out from MIT’s Nuclear Science & Engineering Department in 2023, and AI infrastructure company Crusoe have announced a strategic partnership to develop a nuclear-powered data centre campus in the Port of Victoria, Texas. Blue Energy secured a site to design, develop, and operate an advanced NPP of up to 1.5 GWe to supply power to Crusoe-developed artificial intelligence (AI) factories on a nearby secured site.
The new project aims to see Blue Energy deliver the world’s first gas-to-nuclear conversion, supplying natural gas-based power to the Crusoe-developed AI factory campus as early as 2028, transitioning to expected nuclear generation by 2031.
Colorado-based Crusoe, founded in 2018 by CEO Chase Lochmiller and President Cully Cavness, uses a vertically integrated model to build power and compute infrastructure in parallel to enable the rapid rollout of AI infrastructure, while also helping develop emerging clean energy sources enabling them to scale faster.
The 1,600-acre Crusoe campus, in Victoria County, was chosen for its location, existing infrastructure, and available energy resources to support a gigawatt-scale AI factory campus. The site is in proximity to existing and planned transmission lines and fibre optic networks. It also offers unparalleled access to one of the US’s largest natural gas pipeline systems.
“This partnership with AI infrastructure leader Crusoe marks a key milestone for Blue Energy as we work to meet rising global energy demand and, for the first time in the nuclear industry’s history, build a plant with cost and schedule certainty,” said Jake Jurewicz, Blue Energy Co-Founder and CEO.
Andrew Likens, Crusoe Vice President of Energy Infrastructure & Development, said: “Powering the AI revolution requires us to rethink energy, and Crusoe is dedicated to building the infrastructure to make it happen – infrastructure that demands access to abundant, reliable, and clean power.”
He added: “Blue Energy’s gas-to-nuclear approach delivers exactly what we need: unrivalled speed to market using existing fuel sources, combined with a clear, rapid transition to the massive, carbon-free baseload power that only nuclear power can provide. This partnership demonstrates how we’re building the future of AI sustainably and at scale.”
Port of Victoria Executive Director Sean Stibich said the project “will support a stronger and more resilient power grid and bring long-term investment and high-quality jobs and workforce development to the Texas Logistics Center”.
Blue Energy says its design cuts construction costs and timelines, slashes time to power to 36 months or less with a natural gas bridge and makes nuclear power competitive with fossil fuels and renewables. Blue Energy plans to prefabricate nuclear plants from existing parts “using existing shipyards and American manufacturing muscle”. This will cut costs, reduce supply chain and labour procurement delays, enabling faster onsite modular installation.
As a result, a nuclear plant “can be project-financed, built on time, and brought online fast”. Blue Energy says its ability to energise the steam turbines early with a bridge fuel will demonstrate the world’s first gas-to-nuclear conversion, “establishing a new blueprint for rapidly scaling baseload generation to deliver energy abundance and energy security around the world”.
