Marketplace All-in-One The old technique that could power future nuclear reactors
Nov 11, 2025
Mark Harris, an investigative technology journalist, dives into the innovative world of nuclear power, specifically focusing on the advancements made by Kairos in small modular reactors. He discusses how AI companies, like Google, are adapting to increasing electricity demands with faster nuclear solutions. Harris highlights the benefits of molten-salt cooling, which offers safer pressure management, and touches on the engineering challenges of modernizing this old technique. He also outlines Kairos's ambitious timeline to supply power and its partnership with Google for a sustainable energy future.
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Molten Salt Lowers Pressure Risks
- Molten-salt cooling replaces high-pressure water with low-pressure liquid salts to reduce explosion risk from pressure loss.
- The approach revives a decades-old idea but demands extensive engineering to handle corrosive salts and fluid behavior.
Old Idea Meets New Engineering
- Molten-salt reactors weren't deployed at scale historically, so materials and flow engineering remain unsolved at commercial scale.
- Kairos applies modern engineering to an older concept to try to overcome those practical gaps.
Prototype Fast To De-Risk Scaleup
- Build and test prototypes rapidly to close engineering unknowns before scaling to power plants.
- Prioritize iterative hardware development to reach marketable reactors within a realistic timeline.