Newest nuclear company in Oak Ridge emerges from stealth mode after raising $42 million
Standard Nuclear Inc. is a reactor-agnostic producer of TRISO nuclear fuel and has set up shop on the old K-25 site.
Standard Nuclear Inc., a reactor-agnostic producer of TRISO nuclear fuel, announced on Wednesday its launch from stealth with $42 million in total funding led by Decisive Point with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Washington Harbour Partners, Welara, Fundomo, and Crucible Capital.
According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, Ultra Safe Nuclear, the predecessor to Standard Nuclear, had been a sprawling enterprise funded largely by a single man, Richard Hollis Helms, a former Central Intelligence Agency operative. After Helms died last year, funding immediately dried up.
Standard Nuclear owns and operates a set of fully equipped commercial-scale facilities totaling 19,000-square-feet that sit on its 36.8 acre campus located at the former K-25 Nuclear site in Oak Ridge. The company operates its fully permitted radiological facilities to manufacture and supply TRISO fuel forms with varying specifications for its multiple commercial and government customers.
“As the demand for power accelerates, nuclear is a clear and practical solution. Advanced nuclear fuels like TRISO for small modular and micro-reactors are necessary to unleash American energy dominance and enable a future with abundant power,” said Thomas Hendrix, General Partner at Decisive Point and Executive Chairman of Standard Nuclear. “With the capital from this funding round, Standard Nuclear is positioned to deliver on our growing customer orders, accelerate our growth, and fill the domestic supply gap. We are rapidly scaling TRISO fuel production to advance our mission of securing the domestic supply chain and achieving energy independence.”
The Standard Nuclear team is comprised of more than two dozen employees with 150+ years combined experience at Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories. Founded in 2024, the company has booked $5 million in contracts in the first quarter of 2025, and signed a major fuel offtake agreement for more than one Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) of fuel with an additional 1.5 MTU in negotiation, representing more than $100 million in non-binding fuel sales for 2027.
In just a few months, the company has established strategic customer relationships for its various products and services with a diversified group of commercial and government customers including Radiant Industries, Antares, Nano Nuclear Energy, Jimmy Energy, DOE national laboratories, and the Department of Defense.
“Most of the long-anticipated wave of advanced reactors finally arriving to market are harnessing the unique, inherent advantages of TRISO fuel—benefits that have been validated through decades of DOE and NRC investment and scientific rigor,” said Dr. Kurt Terrani, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Standard Nuclear. “These reactors can’t run without fuel, and we’re here to ensure there are no uncertainties in that supply. We’re not just delivering TRISO fuel at scale—we’re doing it at a cost that enables a robust, competitive, and sustainable advanced reactor industry.”
Standard Nuclear is the nation’s only independent manufacturer of TRISO fuel—a robust, high-performance fuel essential to advanced nuclear reactors for both terrestrial and space applications. The company offers a reactor-agnostic supply of advanced fuels to the next-generation nuclear industry and delivers dependable radioisotope power solutions to the space and defense sectors.
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