NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams Visits Kairos Power to Review SMR Technology

Kairos Power, a U.S. small modular reactor developer, recently announced that Brandon Williams, Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), has visited the company's Manufacturing Development Campus in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to review its readiness for advanced reactor deployment.

According to Kairos Power, Williams and his delegation toured the campus's advanced manufacturing, fuel development, molten salt production, modular systems, and large-scale hardware verification facilities. The campus serves as a key base for the company's advancement of fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor technology and also supports the engineering validation and manufacturing capability development required for future reactor deployment. Currently, the campus has created nearly 200 local jobs.

Founded in 2016, Kairos Power is advancing the Hermes 2 demonstration reactor project. The reactor uses molten salt as a coolant, following the fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor technology pathway. According to available information, the design employs coated particle fuel to reduce the risk of radioactive material release; the boiling point of the molten salt is approximately 880 degrees Celsius, significantly higher than that of water, which helps mitigate safety risks under high-pressure conditions.

Kairos Power also plans to collaborate with Google to build an advanced nuclear power project in Tennessee. This is the first project advanced by the two parties since signing a small modular reactor power purchase agreement in 2024, with plans to begin supplying electricity to Google's data centers in the southeastern United States by 2030. The project is expected to have an installed capacity of 500 megawatts, which is estimated to meet the electricity needs of approximately 350,000 households.