Applied Atomics

Applied Atomics is a Los Angeles-based nuclear power developer that designs, builds, owns and operates medium-scale modular nuclear fission plants sited directly at customer facilities, with output ranging from 100 MW to 1 GW per site. The company describes its model as "full-stack": it integrates reactor systems, plant design, supply chain management, construction delivery and long-term operations into a single delivery organization, with the stated aim of reducing the cost uncertainty and schedule risk that have historically constrained Western nuclear construction. Customers contract for electricity rather than for a plant, taking dedicated capacity under a single power purchase agreement while Applied Atomics retains all operations.

The company builds on established light-water reactor architecture rather than novel reactor physics, citing available fuel and existing supply chains and avoiding exotic materials. It has secured an exclusive land-based license to BWX Technologies' mPower small modular reactor technology. Engineering validation to date has centered on a digital twin platform called SimBox, used to test plant control logic, automated safety response and system resiliency with actual supply chain components across scaled operating conditions. Applied Atomics has established an integrated design and test studio in the Los Angeles Arts District and has said it plans to break ground on a training and operations facility with additional test stands, while pursuing structured engagement under the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Part 50 licensing pathway.

Target end markets are datacenters and AI compute campuses, industrial campuses seeking an anchor energy source, and utilities looking to add clean baseload capacity. The leadership team is drawn from aerospace, nuclear and enterprise software: CEO Ben Kellie and CTO Paul Keutelian both began their careers at SpaceX at the Vandenberg launch site, with Kellie later founding The Launch Company (sold to Voyager Space in 2021) and Keutelian serving as technical co-founder and COO of Radiant Industries, developer of a portable 1.2 MWe microreactor. Other senior staff have held roles at Gravitics, ABL Space Systems, Virgin Orbit, Relativity Space, Microsoft, Google, NASA and BWX Advanced Technologies.