October 16， 2025
An advanced nuclear energy company, Deep Fission, has announced a significant step forward by signing Letters of Intent (LOI) with a consortium of data centers, co-developers, industrial parks, and strategic partners. These agreements, while not legally binding, outline plans to explore the commercial deployment of its small modular reactor (SMR) systems and represent a potential 12.5GW of nuclear capacity. The specific data centers involved in these LOIs were not publicly disclosed.
“The world is transforming before our eyes, and there is a race to secure the energy needed to fuel the robust growth in AI and data centers,” said Liz Muller, co-founder and CEO of the Berkeley, California-based company. “It’s inspiring to see the swift embrace of Deep Fission’s technology. We’re proud to partner with industry leaders as we seek to deliver safe, cost-effective, and rapidly deployable power that meets today’s demand while building a more resilient future.” This move aligns with a growing trend of data center companies, including Amazon, Google, and Equinix, seeking agreements with SMR developers to secure clean, reliable power.
This announcement builds on momentum the company has been generating since its founding in 2023. Earlier this year, in January, Deep Fission partnered with Endeavour Energy to co-develop 2GW of nuclear energy specifically for Endeavour's global portfolio of data centers, with the first reactors expected to be operational by 2029. The technology at the heart of these partnerships is the company's pioneering “mile deep” SMR system, known as the Deep Fission Borehole Reactor 1 (DFBR-1).
The DFBR-1 is a pressurized water reactor (PWR) designed to produce 5MWe of electricity and has an estimated fuel cycle of ten to 20 years. Its innovative design involves placing the reactor in a 30-inch borehole up to a mile deep, where the natural geology provides pressurization and containment. This approach, the company states, increases security and lowers costs by eliminating the need for thick-walled pressurization vessels. Deep Fission claims that nuclear containment is achieved through geology, ensuring that even if fully spent fuel is released, there would be no significant radioactive danger to the public or contamination of aquifers. The reactor is designed for retrieval via permanently attached cables and can be replaced by a new unit in a nearby or the same borehole.
To accelerate its efforts, Deep Fission announced a $4 million pre-seed funding round last August for hiring, regulatory approval, and commercialization. More recently, this August, the company received a major boost by being selected as one of 11 advanced nuclear reactor projects to join the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program. As part of this program, the DOE will support the projects in constructing, operating, and achieving criticality of at least three test reactors using the DOE authorization process by July 4, 2026.
SOURCE DCD
