The low-enriched uranium (LEU) will be sourced from Urenco USA’s enrichment facility in Eunice, New Mexico, and meets all regulatory requirements for use in the USA, California-based Deep Fission noted.
Deep Fission’s Gravity reactor is a small modular reactor (SMR) designed to be placed underground in an optimised borehole one mile (1.6 km) deep. Using traditional pressurised water reactor technology and LEU fuel, each reactor will generate 15 MWe, the company says, while its small footprint and dense power output means it will need a fraction of the land needed for traditional surface nuclear: ten reactors on the same site would deliver 150 MWe, or 100 reactors would produce 1.5 GWe. The passive shielding and natural containment offered by the surrounding geology, and the combination of mature technologies from the nuclear, oil and gas, and geothermal industries, while using off-the-shelf parts and readily available LEU fuel, aims to improve safety and security and enable a faster, more cost-effective path to deployment.
Deep Fission broke ground in December at the Great Plains Industrial Park in Parsons, Kansas, for its pilot project and plans to build a full-scale commercial plant there following the test reactor demonstration.
In August last year, Deep Fission was one of 10 companies selected by the US Department of Energy to receive support under its Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program, which aims to see at least three designs achieve criticality by 4 July 2026.
“Securing fuel is one of the most important steps for any nuclear project,” said Liz Muller, CEO and Co-Founder of Deep Fission. “This agreement with Urenco enables us to move quickly toward commercialisation and scaling our technology with a high-quality fuel.”
“Urenco is pleased to support innovative nuclear companies like Deep Fission,” said John Kirkpatrick, Urenco USA’s managing director. “Advanced reactor developers are an important part of the future energy landscape, and we are focused on ensuring a reliable domestic supply of enriched uranium to support growth in this sector.”
Deep Fission was founded in 2023 by father-daughter team Elizabeth and Richard Muller, who also co-founded Deep Isolation in 2016 to develop the concept of placing canisters of radioactive waste hundreds of metres underground via a borehole.
