Catalysing the New Nuclear Renaissance: Why We Invested in Radiant
It is no secret that we have been looking closely at the nuclear sector at Giant Ventures. Our four-part series on the topic punctuated months of market prospecting. Candidly, for a long time, it looked like we might not find a single opportunity we liked. The shibboleths of the nuclear sector loomed large: capital intensity, regulatory uncertainty, slow learning rates, a broken fuel supply chain, and inferior levelised costs.
But then we met Doug Bernauer and Radiant Industries, and everything changed.
Today, we are excited to announce that we have invested in Radiant’s Series C, an extension bringing the total series C funding of Radiant to $165 million, from Giant’s Early Growth Fund. This is a statement of our conviction in the Radiant team and their potential to catalyse a new nuclear renaissance.
Radiant is developing the Kaleidos, a mass-produced, portable nuclear microreactor that generates 1 megawatt (MWe) of clean, baseload power. You can see the Kaleidos here, and Rachel Slaybaugh, Partner at DCVC and Radiant’s Series C lead, has written a terrific article explaining the company’s technology here.
I wanted to tell you how Doug and Radiant changed our perspective on the investability of nuclear energy. It boils down to three simple factors.
Firstly and critically, Radiant is focused on building a great product, while the rest of the industry focuses on building working reactors. The difference is subtle but significant. Radiant’s reactor design has to work flawlessly of course, but this is table stakes. What sets them apart is their focus on product details, such as the reactor size being appropriate for both land and air freight, making it passive air-cooled so that it can be deployed without a water source, and using TRISO (tristructural-isotropic) fuel that is meltdown-proof by design.
Secondly, Doug Bernauer, Radiant’s Founder and CEO and former SpaceX veteran who, among many other feats, built the first rocket with legs, is a force of nature. His passion and energy are infectious. His dedication to brilliance is reflected in the team he has brought together, and his determination to build on time and on budget permeates the organisation. Next year, Radiant expects the Kaleidos to be the first new commercial reactor design to achieve a fueled test in over 50 years in the USA. We have every confidence they’ll hit that milestone. You only have to peek into the factory in El Segundo to share that view - the entire place is so organised and clean you could eat lunch off the floor.
Finally, Radiant is laser-focused on go-to-market strategy. Put simply, the Kaleidos is taking on diesel generators in remote or extreme environments where the cost of energy and willingness to pay are the highest. During our diligence process, I learned that, in some cases, the US military is paying $400 per gallon of diesel for “in-theatre” delivery. I also learned that in 2007 alone, 170 U.S. servicemembers were killed or wounded in action securing fuel convoys. Radiant knows where to find early product market fit and will use this wedge to increase their learning rate, driving further product innovations for broader markets.
We are incredibly excited for Radiant to spearhead the future of nuclear power. Recent wins, such as last month’s announcement from the US Department of Energy that Radiant would be one of three companies selected to receive an allocation of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel, have further validated our conviction.
I’ll leave you with the rallying cry of the Radiant team… Let’s build reactors!