Kairos Power has broken ground on the Hermes 2 Demonstration Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee – the company’s first commercial-scale reactor and the first-ever power-producing Gen IV reactor to receive a construction permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
In a press release the company said that Hermes 2 is Kairos Power’s first deployment under its landmark deal with Google to develop an advanced reactor fleet. The plant will supply up to 50 megawatts of clean electricity to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) grid, helping to decarbonize Google data centers in Tennessee and Alabama.
The Hermes series will be the first fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors (KP-FHRs) ever built
Hermes 2 will be built on the footprint of the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant at the K-33 site, which Kairos Power acquired in 2021, along with the adjacent K-31 site, for its reactor demonstration campus.