Radiant closes $300M Series C round to aid small nuclear reactor production

Radiant Industries, a startup pushing to mass produce portable nuclear microreactors, has captured $300 million in Series D capital ahead of its plan to break ground early next year on a factory.

Founded in 2020, Radiant is designing its reactors to operate in mission sets where traditional energy systems likely are not feasible. Defense, disaster response, remote industry and critical infrastructure are examples of use cases Radiant is eyeing.

Draper Associates and Boost VC led the Series D round that “was put together in just a few weeks” and closed six months after a $165 million Series C round, Radiant said Wednesday. Other named participants include Align Ventures, Andreesen Horowitz, Ark Invest, Chevron’s tech venture arm, DCVC, Friends & Family Capital, Founders Fund, Giant, Stepstone and Washington Harbour Partners.

Electricity demands and stresses on the grid are front-and-center topics across society as artificial intelligence workloads are increasing, as is the scrutiny from governments and communities on data center construction. Nuclear power is seen by many as a scalable alternative power source versus today’s means.

With this new investment, Radiant is looking to further scale its commercialization efforts as the company pushes to break ground on an R-50 production facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Also next year, Radiant is eyeing the startup of its Kaleidos Demonstration Unit reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments facility.

"Micro-scaled nuclear, mass produced for the first time ever can transform how the public thinks about nuclear energy," Doug Bernauer, CEO and founder of Radiant, said in a release. "This funding enables us to build our factory and keep to our DOME schedule, where we will achieve self-sustained chain reaction on a reactor designed by, built by, fueled by, and operated by Radiant alongside our partners at the Idaho National Lab."

Radiant is building the Kalaeidos reactor to operate at a capacity of 1 megawatt. After the factory opens, Radiant wants to product 50 reactors per year by 2028.