Ultimately, Kairos expects the combination of its fuel and special coolant to enable commercial reactors that are cost-competitive with natural gas plants and boast safer operation than conventional reactors, even in the event of complete power loss.
Key indicators
Industry: Nuclear power
Nuclear power Founded: 2016
2016 Headquarters: Alameda, California, USA
Alameda, California, USA Notable fact: In 1954, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US was home to the first molten salt reactor, an experimental power source for a possible supersonic nuclear aircraft.
Potential for impact
With sharp cuts to US federal funding for solar and wind projects, nuclear power is one of the few zero-carbon technologies that still attract bipartisan political support. Although developing new systems is slow and expensive, nuclear reactors excel at providing 24/7 baseload power that can replace fossil fuel plants.
Small modular reactors like the ones Kairos is building are particularly attractive for places that require steady amounts of power or lack reliable transmission infrastructure. They can operate around the clock in any weather conditions, and they are largely independent from the grid.
Applications could include AI data centers, whose electricity consumption the International Energy Authority expects to more than double over the next five years, but also remote towns and safety-critical transportation hubs. Denver International Airport announced recently that it was exploring the possibility of constructing one such reactor, after over 1,000 flights at London’s Heathrow Airport were grounded or diverted earlier this year due to a substation failure.
Caveats
Although there have been numerous experimental molten salt reactors, no one has yet shown that they can operate one consistently and profitably over the long term. Building test reactors in parallel might shorten Kairos’s development cycle, but it could also reveal problems that cascade through the entire fleet.