Launch of marine nuclear power Bluecore Energy on Tuesday it said it had raised $10 million in a pre-funding round led by Slauson & Co.
Founded seven months ago by Kofi Asante, who previously worked with Uber Freight, Bluecore builds small nuclear reactors (SMRs) on floating barges with the aim of providing clean energy to ports and nearby infrastructure. Reactors heat water and transfer the resulting steam to a generator, which then spins a turbine to produce electricity, Asante explained. The system is water cooled in a closed loop.
The energy expected to be produced on Bluecore’s barges can be transported by ship to its next location, reducing the emissions involved in transporting it to zero, Asante claims. In addition, he said the entire system behind the nuclear power plant only needs to be refueled once every few years.
Bluecore’s barges can also be moored close to communities and can be connected to the power grid via undersea cables. The goal is to try to power the “equivalent of about 15,000 homes or scale to meet the energy needs of a major port,” he told TechCrunch.
“We are able to use existing water-cooled nuclear technology that has been in operation for more than 70 years,” he said. “With a production line of small modular reactors that can be rapidly deployed in water, there is a path to providing clean energy to the majority of the country.”
Bluecore will use the new capital to develop its product. It has already secured a terminal port, a barge and a test reactor pressure vessel, Asante said. “The test vessel allows us to simulate flow with water, which is the cooling source of the system. We combine hardware testing with software to validate and verify the basis of our design,” he added.
The startup is working with regulatory agencies to “embed the safest design decision” into its first product. Asante said the startup is building several layers of “safety and redundancy,” such as encasing and protecting the uranium in a thick steel pressure vessel and then lining it with concrete and steel lining.
Asante hopes Bluecore may be able to help with the increasing power demand caused by continued data center growth. “AI data center executives shared with me that they would not need to draw water or power from the communities around them if they can get their own source of electricity and access sea-supplied water,” he said.
Other investors in the round include Harlem Capital, Precursor Ventures, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, and actor Kevin Hart’s HartBeat Ventures, as well as some angel investors.
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