Deep Fission drills for underground nuclear power plants

Nuclear power plants are intended to satisfy the energy hunger of hyperscalers. A number of start-ups in the USA are developing small, modular nuclear power plants that are intended to supply electricity for data centers for artificial intelligence. The company Deep Fission wants to sink its reactors into the earth.

The start-up, founded in 2023, wants to build pressurized water reactors (Pressurized Water Reactor, PWR) with a capacity of 300 megawatts to 1.5 gigawatts. These are to be installed in boreholes with a diameter of about one meter. The boreholes are intended to reach a depth of about one and a half to two kilometers.

The company has already begun preparatory work: According to its statements, it is carrying out an initial test drilling in Parsons, Kansas, USA. The shaft reportedly has a diameter of about 20 centimeters and is intended to penetrate about 1.8 kilometers into the earth.

Collecting geodata

The purpose of the drilling operation is to collect “critical geological, hydrological, and thermal data”. This data is to be incorporated into the technical planning, safety analysis, and applications for project approval. In addition to this one, two further drillings are planned.

The drilling is an important step for the company, said Liz Muller, CEO, and co-founder of Deep Fission. “It represents the shift from concept to construction and begins the process of demonstrating a fundamentally new approach to nuclear energy deployment.”

The idea behind Deep Fission is: If the pressurized water reactor is located deep underground, shielding is largely or completely unnecessary. This is intended to significantly reduce construction costs -- according to Deep Fission, they should only be about 20 to 30 percent of those of a conventional nuclear power plant.

In the event of an accident, the radiation is intended to remain underground and can be contained there. Furthermore, the reactor is intended to be protected from catastrophes such as an airplane crash, attacks, or terrorism. This is intended to make electricity generation very cheap: Deep Fission aims for generation costs of 5 to 7 US cents per kilowatt-hour. According to its statements, the company already has letters of intent for the construction of power plants totaling 12.5 gigawatts.

(wpl)