Kairos Power on August 18 announced the launch of the Nuclear Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Precast (NuCAMP), a multi-party alliance built to develop the East Tennessee workforce and manufacturing base needed to deliver its fluoride salt-cooled Hermes reactors at commercial scale.
An MOU with ORNL, UT-Knoxville, IACMI and East TN schools
The initiative is anchored by a memorandum of understanding between Kairos Power and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), Barnard Construction, Roane State Community College, Chattanooga State Community College and Oak Ridge Schools. The Kairos Reactor Demonstration Campus in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, will host NuCAMP, providing dedicated space for precast concrete production, assembly, welding and additive manufacturing.
Filling advanced-reactor construction gaps
"Delivering affordable advanced reactors at scale will require more than a strong design. We need innovative manufacturing processes, the code basis to qualify them, and people with the right skills to apply them," said Kairos Power co-founder and chief technology officer Ed Blandford. ORNL Director Stephen Streiffer added that ORNL's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility would help "mature advanced manufacturing and construction methods for the nuclear industry."
R&D roadmap: precast, large-format additive, EB welding
The parties agreed to an initial 12-month exploratory phase to determine which programs and career pathways to develop. Early R&D priorities include precast concrete construction, large-format additive manufacturing, wire-arc additive manufacturing and electron beam welding — techniques Kairos has already tried on its Hermes test reactors, including using electron beam welding to fabricate its Engineering Test Unit 3 reactor vessel.
New master's programs and K-12 pathways
The University of Tennessee will evaluate two potential master's degree programs, one in manufacturing engineering for factory-based nuclear construction and another in precast concrete construction. Roane State and Chattanooga State community colleges will look at specialized training for nuclear pipe welding, precast production and skid manufacturing, while Oak Ridge Schools will expand advanced manufacturing pathways at the middle school and high school levels. Kairos also said it will engage Samsung C&T Engineering & Construction Group and Cambridge Vacuum Engineering as strategic advisors on manufacturing and construction.
Building the pipeline for a $50 MW pilot plant
The alliance lands as Kairos scales up in Oak Ridge, where its Hermes 2 demonstration plant received the first NRC construction permit for a commercial Gen IV reactor and is expected to supply up to 50 megawatts to the TVA grid. It also complements broader federal moves like the Department of Energy's Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus competition and the recent Applied Atomics-BWXT mPower SMR license, signaling that advanced-reactor workforce development is now moving in lock-step with fleet planning.
Reporting based on coverage from the American Nuclear Society and Kairos Power.