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Kairos Power
Kairos Power LLC is an American nuclear energy company that develops fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactors, also known as molten-salt reactors, a type of small modular reactors (SMRs). Founded in 2016, the company is known for its aim to build SMRs for sustainable power generation.
Kairos Power’s fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor (FHR) design uses ceramic-coated tri-structural isotropic fuel in pebble form, and low-pressure molten fluoride salt as a coolant, as opposed to water used in conventional water-cooled reactors.
Kairos Power was founded in 2016 by a team of engineers and scientists. Kairos Power operates in the small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear energy sector. Its current project is developing the Hermes fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature (FHR) SMR, a 35-MWth non-power reactor that will be the first demonstration of Kairos FHR technology. Hermes is sited on the East Tennessee Technology Park Campus in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and supports the development of Kairos Power’s commercial FHR.
In 2021, Kairos applied for a construction permit under 10 CFR Part 50 from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for their Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor (Hermes 1), to be built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The application was approved on December 2023. Kairos broke ground on the site in July 2024, and nuclear construction began in May 2025. It was the first construction permit for a non-LWR issued since the NRC was founded in 1975. Kairos submitted a construction permit application for the larger-scale Hermes 2 Plant (Hermes 2), also located in Oak Ridge, in July 2023. This application was approved in November 2024.
The NRC has approved 14 topical reports submitted by Kairos Power to support licensing KP-FHR reactors, with one topical report currently under review. Kairos Power is preparing to submit an operating license application for the Hermes 1 reactor.
In 2024, Kairos Power signed an agreement with Google to use small nuclear reactors to generate energy to be used to power its artificial intelligence data centres. Google has ordered six to seven small nuclear reactors, with the first due to be completed by 2030, and the remainder by 2035. The plans are pending approval by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as local agencies.
In August 2025, Kairos Power, Google, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced a power purchase agreement (PPA) in which Kairos Power’s Hermes 2 reactor will deliver 50 MW of energy to the TVA grid to help power Google’s data centers in Jackson County, Alabama and Montgomery County, Tennessee. The agreement made TVA the first U.S. utility to sign a PPA with an advanced nuclear plant. Hermes 2 is expected to start providing power to the grid in 2030 and will be the first deployment under Kairos Power’s 2024 agreement with Google.
Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) are nothing new amongst nuclear energy researchers and have been studied in the US by since the 1950s. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was one of the early organizations to build and run a test MSR for 5 years, starting in 1964. The Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment was canceled in 1969 after going critical, but was considered a success by the nuclear science community. In later years, researchers at the lab exposed the plant's operational issues, which included 171 unplanned shutdowns and an overall operation time of 40 percent due to corrosion and waste buildups.
Kairos Power
Kairos Power LLC is an American nuclear energy company that develops fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactors, also known as molten-salt reactors, a type of small modular reactors (SMRs). Founded in 2016, the company is known for its aim to build SMRs for sustainable power generation.
Kairos Power’s fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor (FHR) design uses ceramic-coated tri-structural isotropic fuel in pebble form, and low-pressure molten fluoride salt as a coolant, as opposed to water used in conventional water-cooled reactors.
Kairos Power was founded in 2016 by a team of engineers and scientists. Kairos Power operates in the small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear energy sector. Its current project is developing the Hermes fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature (FHR) SMR, a 35-MWth non-power reactor that will be the first demonstration of Kairos FHR technology. Hermes is sited on the East Tennessee Technology Park Campus in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and supports the development of Kairos Power’s commercial FHR.
In 2021, Kairos applied for a construction permit under 10 CFR Part 50 from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for their Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor (Hermes 1), to be built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The application was approved on December 2023. Kairos broke ground on the site in July 2024, and nuclear construction began in May 2025. It was the first construction permit for a non-LWR issued since the NRC was founded in 1975. Kairos submitted a construction permit application for the larger-scale Hermes 2 Plant (Hermes 2), also located in Oak Ridge, in July 2023. This application was approved in November 2024.
The NRC has approved 14 topical reports submitted by Kairos Power to support licensing KP-FHR reactors, with one topical report currently under review. Kairos Power is preparing to submit an operating license application for the Hermes 1 reactor.
In 2024, Kairos Power signed an agreement with Google to use small nuclear reactors to generate energy to be used to power its artificial intelligence data centres. Google has ordered six to seven small nuclear reactors, with the first due to be completed by 2030, and the remainder by 2035. The plans are pending approval by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as local agencies.
In August 2025, Kairos Power, Google, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced a power purchase agreement (PPA) in which Kairos Power’s Hermes 2 reactor will deliver 50 MW of energy to the TVA grid to help power Google’s data centers in Jackson County, Alabama and Montgomery County, Tennessee. The agreement made TVA the first U.S. utility to sign a PPA with an advanced nuclear plant. Hermes 2 is expected to start providing power to the grid in 2030 and will be the first deployment under Kairos Power’s 2024 agreement with Google.
Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) are nothing new amongst nuclear energy researchers and have been studied in the US by since the 1950s. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) was one of the early organizations to build and run a test MSR for 5 years, starting in 1964. The Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment was canceled in 1969 after going critical, but was considered a success by the nuclear science community. In later years, researchers at the lab exposed the plant's operational issues, which included 171 unplanned shutdowns and an overall operation time of 40 percent due to corrosion and waste buildups.