Rolls-Royce is in early-stage talks with potential customers for its compact nuclear reactors, which are designed to power data centers on Earth and one day to be sent into space, the Financial Times reported.
The so-called microreactors have a much smaller power output than traditional small modular reactors but are more transportable due to their smaller size.
Jake Thompson, the company’s director of novel nuclear and special projects, told the FT the reactor could provide energy solutions for data centers, mining, and remote communities. A spokesperson for Rolls-Royce confirmed to Business Insider that it is in early-stage talks with potential customers.
Big Tech companies — including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft — have expressed interest in nuclear power to meet AI’s high energy demands. Rolls-Royce believes the growing international interest in nuclear power will increase the demand for microreactors for both Earthbound and space applications, the FT reported.
Thompson told the FT that Rolls-Royce’s focus has been on building a reactor that is “really small, small enough so you could load it onto a rocket and send it into space.”
The company has been working on the technology for over three years, first collaborating with the UK Space Agency in 2021 to study how nuclear power could support space exploration.
In July 2024, Rolls-Royce was awarded funding from the agency’s National Space Innovation Programme, or NSIP, for space nuclear power. The company said in a statement at the time that the £4.8m award from NSIP would help to advance the development and demonstration of key technologies in the space nuclear microreactor market.
The company said the NSIP’s project had a total cost of £9.1 million ($11.5 million) and aimed to progress the microreactor’s “overall technology readiness level.”
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