Dr. Martin van Staden, Dr. Eben Mulder, and Drs. You Ghaffarian. (Photo: Verskaf)
Advanced nuclear power developer X-Energy, which has strong ties to South Africa, raised more than $1 billion when it listed on the Nasdaq on April 24. This is almost R17 billion at the exchange rate on 30 April.
The company made its initial public offering at $23 per share and sold 44,254,659 shares of Class A common stock. On April 29, the stock closed at $31.08.
X-Energy develops small, modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) and has already begun construction of a fuel manufacturing plant. Its development work is partially funded by the US Department of Energy, and the company already boasts three top customers, namely Dow Chemicals, Amazon and Centrica.
X-Energy says orders from the three customers “provide us with more than 11 GWe, a 144-reactor pipeline in the US and UK with advanced development work already underway on the first Dow project at its Seadrift operating site in Texas and the first Amazon project in collaboration with Energy Northwest”.
Centrica will be its partner for the development of Britain’s first advanced nuclear reactor (SMR). Together, the two companies will pursue 6 GW of new nuclear power capacity in Britain.
Several of the leading scientists at X-Energy previously worked on South Africa’s granular bed modular nuclear power project. This includes Dr. Eben Mulder, co-founder and chief scientist, and Dr. Martin van Staden, Vice President for Reactor Development.
The South African-born venture capitalist André Pienaar’s C5 Capital bought a stake in the company in 2021 and said at the time: “C5 Capital believes that we are at the forefront of a dramatic transformation of the world’s energy infrastructure, and that advanced nuclear power innovation is central to this shift.”
The Minister of Energy and Electricity, Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, visited X-Energy’s plant in the USA in October 2024.
South Africa is currently preparing for new nuclear power projects.
The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) recently invited interested companies to raise their hand to work together as partners in the development of SMRs.
These reactors are also touted as replacements for Eskom’s old coal-fired power stations in Mpumalanga, where they will be placed on the same sites and still use the valuable grid connections and related infrastructure.
Worldwide, there is a race among various developers to produce these reactors commercially. According to the World Nuclear Association, which monitors the progress of these projects worldwide, there are only two in operation so far – one in Russia and one in China. Five are currently under construction, namely two in Russia and one each in China, the United States and Argentina.
Pienaar says X-Energy is currently focusing on the first reactor to be built at Dow Chemical’s Seadrift site in Texas. This will serve as proof that the concept works. The company hopes to have it operational within five years.
“The Trump administration is currently accelerating the regulatory and licensing process, enabling the US nuclear industry to develop at a much faster pace,” he says.
In its prospectus, X-Energy says: “We believe these easily scalable power generation technologies will help meet unprecedented growth in demand for electricity, particularly for the development of artificial intelligence and data centers.
“Total demand for new power generation capacity is expected to increase globally by 7,626 TWh from 2023 to 2030. Meeting this demand has made policymakers and industry leaders realize that nuclear energy, especially advanced nuclear energy, plays a key role in meeting this need.”
The company’s Xe-100 reactor is designed to deliver 80 MW of electrical power or 200 MW of thermal output (heat), or a combination thereof.
Nuclear power technology is considered clean energy that is well positioned to replace generation from fossil fuels such as coal and gas. It is particularly valuable because, like coal-fired power stations, it can provide constant power day and night.
The modular design of these reactors will simplify projects compared to conventional nuclear power, thus lowering costs and speeding up implementation.
X-Energy says its Xe-100 reactor will be optimally deployed in sets of four producing 320 MWe (or 800 MWt). “By installing four independent reactor modules instead of a single unit, this optimized four-reactor configuration inherently provides the high levels of reliability and redundancy required for AI as well as industrial heat applications.”
In December 2020, the US Department of Energy made an initial $1.2 billion available to X-Energy as part of its Advanced Reactor Development Program (ARDP), which provides for a 50-50 cost-share of $2.4 billion in eligible costs through 2027. This, the company says, will “enable it to proceed with design, licensing, commercialization and construction of its first-of-its-kind commercial advanced nuclear power plant and commercial TRISO-X fuel plant,” according to the prospectus.
By December last year, X-energy had already received repayments of about $438 million from the award.
The company must apply for continued funding beyond the current period, which will be subject to the department’s discretion and approval.
X-Energy says: “We believe the market for SMRs is enormous and that X-Energy is well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity. According to a 2024 report by PA Consulting, the US, the UK and Canada – X-Energy’s planned core markets – account for around a third of the world’s potential electricity consumption that they can serve.”
“This demand is expected to come from data centers, utilities, industries and private sector entities for own use. This indicates a potential need for approximately 1,975 Xe-100 reactors or 494 sets of four reactors. The value of this opportunity is estimated at $2.3 trillion for X-Energy by 2050.”
