Blue Energy raises $380M to build grid-scale nuclear reactors in shipyards
Blue Energy, a startup co-founded and led by Jake Jurewicz, has secured $380 million in financing to construct grid-scale nuclear reactors using a novel approach: building them in shipyards rather than on traditional construction sites. The funding round, split between equity and debt, was led by VXI Capital with participation from At One Ventures, Engine Ventures, and Tamarack Global. The capital will support the development of Blue Energy’s first power plant — a 1.5 gigawatt facility slated to begin construction later this year in Texas. Unlike many nuclear startups focused on designing new reactor technologies, Blue Energy is not innovating on the reactor itself but is instead reimagining how nuclear power plants are constructed. The company draws inspiration from the historical roots of light water reactor technology, which was originally developed for nuclear submarines, and from modern industrial practices such as those used by Venture Global in building liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals. Jurewicz noted that Venture Global’s modular, shipyard-based construction approach cut project schedules in half, a model he believes can be successfully adapted for nuclear energy. By shifting the majority of specialized construction — including welding, piping, and assembly — into controlled shipyard environments, Blue Energy aims to reduce on-site construction complexity, improve quality control, enable greater automation, and significantly lower both costs and timelines. Once reactors and associated components are fabricated in the shipyard, they will be transported to installation sites via barge, leveraging navigable rivers to reach inland locations across the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Jurewicz emphasized that this strategy aligns with demographic and load growth trends, as the majority of global population centers and rising electricity demand are located near waterways. The company’s approach has already garnered interest from major infrastructure financiers, including three large project financing banks that responded to Blue Energy’s request for proposal (RFP), signaling confidence in the project’s bankability. Jurewicz stressed that the core challenge facing nuclear power today is not technological but economic: soaring and unpredictable construction costs and schedules have undermined the viability of new nuclear projects in recent decades. Blue Energy’s model seeks to address this by bringing predictability and efficiency to nuclear construction through modularization, factory-like production, and reduced reliance on labor-intensive fieldwork. The startup’s vision represents a potential pathway to revitalizing nuclear energy as a scalable, low-carbon solution for powering grids strained by electrification, AI data centers, and climate goals — without repeating the cost overruns and delays that have plagued recent U.S. nuclear builds.
