Kairos Power’s Samsung Deal Moves Google Nuclear Reactor Plan Forward

Kairos Power has selected Samsung C&T to help build its 50-megawatt demonstration reactor for Google, with completion targeted for 2030. The agreement includes an equity investment and in-kind engineering services worth up to $100 million, according to Kairos Power. TechCrunch reported that a Kairos spokesperson said $70 million of the total will come as equity investment.

Samsung C&T brings nuclear construction experience to a project with an aggressive schedule. The firm has built or helped build about a dozen nuclear reactors around the world. For Kairos, that expertise could be important as it works to move from demonstration to commercial-scale deployment.

Kairos is part of a broader wave of nuclear startups benefiting from rising power demand tied to AI data centers. Google first signed a deal with Kairos in fall 2024, calling for reactors capable of producing about half a gigawatt of electricity by 2035. Output from Kairos’ Hermes reactors is expected to count as the first 50 megawatts of that agreement.

Kairos is currently building two reactors in Oak Ridge, Tennessee: Hermes 1, a low-power demonstrator, and Hermes 2, its first commercial-scale reactor. The company received Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval in late 2024 to build the reactors and expects Hermes 2 to begin operating in 2030. Hermes 2 will use a fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature design and TRISO fuel, technologies aimed at improving safety characteristics.