X-energy

X-energy is a Rockville, Maryland-based advanced nuclear energy company that designs and manufactures two core products: the Xe-100 High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGCR) - a pebble bed small modular reactor (SMR) - and TRISO-X fuel, a proprietary HALEU (High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium) pebble fuel the U.S. Department of Energy has described as "the most robust nuclear fuel on earth." Founded in 2009 by serial entrepreneur Dr. Kam Ghaffarian, X-energy builds on decades of research in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors and TRISO fuel fabrication to deliver a new generation of nuclear energy. The Xe-100 is a 80 MWe (scalable to 320 MWe in a four-pack) reactor that uses helium as a coolant and operates at high temperatures, enabling not just electricity generation but high-temperature industrial process heat - making it suitable for powering data centers, chemical plants, desalination, and heavy industry applications. The reactor's passive safety design means it cannot suffer a core meltdown, a key differentiator from legacy nuclear designs.

X-energy's commercial strategy is two-pronged: deploying the Xe-100 reactor globally and manufacturing TRISO-X pebble fuel domestically. The company is a recipient of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), receiving a cost-shared award of up to $1.23 billion to demonstrate the Xe-100 at commercial scale. A landmark partnership with Dow Chemical Company is advancing the first industrial deployment of the Xe-100 at a Dow facility in Texas, with the NRC issuing an Environmental Assessment with Finding of No Significant Impact in 2026. X-energy has also submitted the Xe-100 for UK Generic Design Assessment and has a commercial pipeline of 11 GW across 144 reactors globally, cementing its position as one of the most commercially advanced SMR developers in the world.

For the U.S. energy supply chain, X-energy is a critical node: it is vertically integrated in a way that few advanced nuclear companies are, owning the reactor design, the fuel manufacturing, and the deployment strategy. Its TRISO-X fuel facility represents the only commercial-scale domestic HALEU fuel fabrication capability after receiving the first-ever Part 70 HALEU Fuel Fabrication License from the NRC in February 2026. By domestically producing this advanced fuel, X-energy directly addresses a key vulnerability in the U.S. nuclear energy supply chain - dependence on foreign uranium enrichment. With an 11 GW pipeline, a completed IPO on Nasdaq (ticker: XE), and partnerships with utilities like LG&E, KU, and Talen Energy, X-energy is positioned to be a foundational supplier of both clean baseload power and next-generation nuclear fuel for the American economy.