Nuclear Startups Seek Growth with Small Reactors Amid Big Manufacturing Hurdles
Nuclear startups are gaining attention as they aim to innovate with smaller reactors, but they face significant challenges in manufacturing and workforce.
San Francisco: The nuclear industry is coming back to life. Old plants are being fixed, and new startups are getting money from investors. In just a few weeks in 2025, these nuclear startups got $1.1 billion. People think that smaller nuclear reactors can succeed while larger projects have had problems.
Normal nuclear reactors are really big. The newest ones in Georgia, called Vogtle 3 and 4, are massive and costly. They took eight extra years to build and went over budget by $20 billion. The new nuclear startups believe that making smaller reactors will help them avoid these big issues. If more power is needed, they can just add more small reactors. They think smaller reactors can be made faster and cheaper if produced in large amounts.
Experts are still figuring out if this will really save money. The new nuclear startups are counting on it. But making these reactors isn’t simple. Just like Tesla had trouble making many Model 3 cars, U.S. nuclear startups face their own problems. They don’t have the same experience in making parts because many materials are sourced from other countries. Milo Werner, a partner at DCVC, mentioned that the U.S. has forgotten how to make key materials for nuclear reactors.
Werner knows what she’s talking about. Before investing, she worked at Tesla and helped launch factories in China. Now, she co-founded the NextGen Industry Group, which focuses on new manufacturing technologies. She says companies building products have two big challenges. One is capital, which is the money needed to build factories. She believes nuclear startups have enough money to tackle this problem. The other challenge is finding skilled workers. The U.S. hasn’t built many factories in 40 years, so there’s a shortage of experienced workers.
Despite this, Werner sees many startups working on early prototypes near their tech teams. This helps bring manufacturing closer to home, which benefits them. Companies need to start small and then grow. This helps them learn and make improvements. Most importantly, they need to show investors that they can get better over time.
But it won’t happen overnight. Sometimes, companies think they can reduce costs quickly, but it might take years to see those benefits. Werner explains, “It often takes a decade to get there.”