- Project Omega has raised $80 million in Series A funding led by B Capital to recycle used nuclear fuel in the US.
- The money will build a recycling facility and scale its X Series power systems for military and remote use.
- The company says its process can cut waste volume by up to 90% while recovering strategic isotopes.
America has nearly 100,000 metric tonnes of used nuclear fuel sitting in storage. Project Omega wants to turn it into long-duration power, reactor feedstock and strategic isotopes.
The Newport, Rhode Island-based startup has raised $80 million in Series A funding led by B Capital, which manages more than $12 billion, to advance its recycling technology and begin building a recycling facility.
The round included noa VC, 645 Ventures and existing investors Starship Ventures, Mantis Ventures, Decisive Point, Virta Ventures, Pace Ventures, Essential Capital and Washington Harbour Partners. B Capital’s Jeff Johnson will join the board.
Earlier, Project Omega disclosed a $12 million seed round in February, led by Starship Ventures, which brings its disclosed funding to $92 million.
The money arrives as AI infrastructure and advanced manufacturing push up demand for reliable electricity, while the US remains dependent on foreign uranium supplies and spends billions managing used nuclear fuel.
From carbon-tech founder to nuclear recycling
Dr Stafford Sheehan founded Project Omega after co-founding Air Company, which makes synthetic fuels from atmospheric carbon dioxide, and Catalytic Innovations, a spin-out from his Yale research. The chemical physicist is now applying his materials science and energy background to the nuclear fuel cycle.
“We are building a vertically integrated strategy around an abundant domestic feedstock, with a non-aqueous recycling process that recovers useful isotopes, and products with clear strategic demand. That combination creates the potential for an entirely new nuclear innovation economy,” sais Sheehan, the company’s CEO.
Since leaving stealth eight months ago, Project Omega has worked with Idaho National Laboratory on recycling through ARPA-E’s CURIE programme, produced stable electrical current from strontium-90 at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and developed radioisotope power systems under DARPA’s Rads to Watts programme.
Nuclear refineries and power systems
The company’s first products are radiovoltaic systems, which turn radioisotope decay directly into electricity. They are designed for places where recharging or replacing batteries is hard, such as sensors, autonomous systems, spacecraft and undersea platforms.
Its X Series combines batteries, generators and intelligent controls. It supports solar and wind for now, with isotope power planned later.
Its pyroprocessing technology, a high-temperature recycling method that avoids water, recovers isotopes such as strontium-90 and does not separate pure plutonium. Project Omega says it can cut nuclear waste volume by up to 90%.
“Project Omega’s technology has the potential to create multiple revenue streams from a largely untapped domestic resource, spanning long-duration power, reactor feedstock and strategic isotopes. We’re excited to support [Stafford] Sheehan and his highly experienced team as they scale this platform and unlock economic potential across the nuclear value chain,” said Jeff Johnson, general partner and global head of energy at B Capital.
Competition for nuclear capital
Project Omega enters a sector that is attracting large sums. Antares raised $470 million, split between $370 million of equity and $100 million of debt, for military reactors. X-energy raised $1.02 billion in its Nasdaq IPO to scale reactor and fuel production. Last Energy took in a $100 million Series C for small modular reactors aimed at data centres.
Those companies are building ways to generate nuclear power. Project Omega is going after the fuel itself, which could give it several revenue streams. The US has about 90,000 metric tons of commercial spent fuel, according to the Department of Energy, but the startup still has to prove that recycling can beat leaving it in storage.
The $80 million pays for the X Series products and the first stage of the recycling facility. Nuclear licensing, construction, safety rules and commercial demand for isotopes all stand in the way.
Can Project Omega turn a stockpile of waste into a business that investors treat as energy supply?
