Tags: clean power

Valar Atomics, a Los Angeles‑area startup founded by 27‑year‑old Isaiah Taylor, announced a $450 million financing round that values the company at $2 billion. The funding, a mix of equity and debt, comes from a roster of defense‑tech investors including Palmer Luckey, Shyam Sankar of Palantir, and Lockheed Martin board member John Donovan. Valar’s plan centers on “gigasites” – industrial campuses that host hundreds of high‑temperature gas‑cooled reactors designed to deliver dense, carbon‑free power for AI data centers and other high‑load applications. The company recently achieved zero‑power criticality for its NOVA Core at Los Alamos and is preparing its Ward250 reactor for power operations in Utah. Lire la suite

Helion, a fusion energy company backed by Sam Altman, is in early talks to supply electricity to OpenAI. The potential agreement could allocate a share of Helion's future output—estimated at several gigawatts by the early 2030s—to the AI firm. Helion’s approach uses magnetic conversion of fusion energy directly into electricity, a departure from traditional heat‑based methods. The company plans to scale rapidly, targeting hundreds of reactors that together could generate tens of gigawatts. Altman has stepped down from Helion’s board to facilitate the partnership, and Microsoft has already signed a similar power purchase agreement with Helion. Lire la suite