Bluecore Energy raises $10M to build portable nuclear reactors on barges
Bluecore Energy, a maritime nuclear energy startup founded seven months ago by Uber Freight alumnus Kofi Asante, has raised $10 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Slauson & Co. The company is developing small modular reactors mounted on floating barges, aiming to supply clean power to ports and surrounding infrastructure, including data centres facing growing energy demands. The move reflects wider interest in nuclear power as a solution to rising electricity needs, particularly from AI-driven data centre expansion.
The reactors use established water-cooled nuclear technology, heating water to produce steam that drives a turbine, and need refuelling only once every few years. Barges can dock near communities and connect to the power grid via subsea cables, with each unit intended to power roughly 15,000 homes or scale up to serve a major port. Bluecore has already secured a port terminal, a barge and a test reactor pressure vessel, and says it is building multiple safety layers, including steel and concrete shielding, while working with regulators. The funding round also drew support from Harlem Capital, Precursor Ventures, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and Kevin Hart's Hartbeat Ventures.
- Bluecore Energy raised $10M to build barge-mounted nuclear reactors
- Reactors could power ports, communities and AI data centres
- Startup already has a test vessel and port terminal secured
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Advocates argue that small, factory-built reactors mounted on barges could deliver reliable, carbon-free baseload power to coastal cities, islands, remote industrial sites and disaster-hit regions far more quickly and cheaply than conventional land-based nuclear plants, since they can be built in a shipyard and towed into place rather than constructed on-site over many years. They see this as a promising route to decarbonising heavy industry and shipping while diversifying energy supply away from fossil fuels and unreliable grids, and view private investment such as this funding round as a healthy sign that innovative, market-driven approaches to next-generation nuclear are gaining traction. Supporters also note that containing a reactor at sea, away from dense population centres, could in principle simplify siting and reduce land-use conflicts.
The case against
Sceptics contend that placing nuclear reactors on mobile, sea-based platforms introduces novel safety, security and regulatory challenges that are not yet well understood, including vulnerability to storms, collisions, piracy or sabotage, and the difficulty of applying consistent oversight to a reactor that can be moved between jurisdictions. They worry that an early-stage, thinly funded startup may lack the decades of engineering and regulatory experience typically required to safely develop nuclear technology, and that a serious incident at sea could cause transboundary environmental harm that is harder to contain and remediate than one on land. Critics also caution against public enthusiasm or investment outpacing the slow, rigorous safety certification process that nuclear technology has historically required, arguing that speed-to-market should never be prioritised over demonstrated safety and non-proliferation safeguards.