Nuclear startups are quite less in number, when compared to the e-commerce and other service apps. But unlike others, KamGhaffarian came up with a nuclear startup called X-energy. The company looks forward to design a smaller and safer nuclear reactor using a technology developed in Germany. The startup is funded 40 million dollars by The Department of Energy. Apart from this Ghaffarian has invested 20 million dollars from his own side. This is indeed a long term vision as it is expected to take around two decades for this startup to commercialize. However, the founders dedicate to this cause hoping that the advancements in nuclear technology will help in managing energy crisis in future. The company is at its design phase now, and more funds can speed up the company to build its demonstration reactor.

What Makes X-energy Different From Other Nuclear Reactors?

X-energy focuses on a special type of reactor called pebble bed modular reactor. These pebbles are small granite balls which have uranium content. 17000 of these pebbles are sufficient to start a nuclear reaction. Usually, the nuclear reactors use water to cool down the uranium rods. In the absence of water, the reactor heats up and leads to nuclear accidents. But, X-energy uses helium to bring down the temperature. And also, the uranium used by X-energy cools down faster than the ones used in other nuclear power plants. X-energy indeed has the potential to create revolution in the field of nuclear energy. However, the startup is still in the beginning stage building small scale nuclear reactors.