Bluecore Energy has raised $50 million in seed funding to advance its floating nuclear power systems, with the financing led by Silverton Partners. The Long Beach, California-based startup is developing small modular nuclear reactors mounted on barges that could provide electricity to ports, data centers, coastal infrastructure and other high-demand locations.
The financing follows a $10 million pre-seed round announced in July, bringing Bluecore’s disclosed funding to approximately $60 million since emerging from stealth.
Bluecore plans to use the new capital for engineering and hardware development, testing and validation, regulatory and classification work, manufacturing, hiring and advancement of its first system toward deployment.
The company’s initial system is based on a water-cooled small modular reactor installed on a floating barge and fueled with commonly available low-enriched uranium.
Bluecore’s approach is designed to move the generation source closer to locations where substantial new electricity capacity is needed, rather than requiring years of land-based transmission and power infrastructure development.
The first system is being designed to produce approximately 10 megawatts of continuous electrical power. The platform is expected to operate for several years between refueling periods and could be scaled by deploying additional units as customer demand grows.
Bluecore is headquartered at the Port of Long Beach, where it has secured its first barge and is developing a non-fueled reactor module prototype to test monitoring, sensor and control systems.
The company is still several years away from commercially operating a nuclear barge serving the port, but the latest financing gives it additional capital to move through engineering, testing, licensing and hardware development.
Rather than placing an operating nuclear unit directly inside the port, Bluecore envisions positioning the floating power system miles offshore and transmitting electricity back to customers through subsea cables, similar to the connection architecture used by offshore wind projects.
That configuration could allow Bluecore to serve major ports and other coastal customers without occupying valuable waterfront space.
Bluecore is already working with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and U.S. Coast Guard to coordinate the regulatory requirements for deploying civilian maritime nuclear technology.
The agencies have established a framework for coordinating oversight of floating nuclear power plants and other civilian maritime nuclear systems, with Bluecore developing its licensing, safety and classification strategy alongside its engineering work.
The Port of Long Beach and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration also signed a memorandum of cooperation in July to explore maritime energy systems, including small modular reactors and shoreside power applications.
Demand from AI infrastructure could become another significant opportunity for the company. Bluecore CEO Kofi Asante said the startup has been receiving inquiries from data center operators, which are increasingly searching for large quantities of continuous power as AI computing requirements increase.
The company also sees potential applications across coastal communities, hospitals, critical infrastructure and other electricity-intensive facilities.
Bluecore is seeking to apply established light-water nuclear reactor technology to a smaller, modular maritime platform rather than developing an entirely new reactor concept.
Its team includes people with experience in nuclear operations as well as aerospace, automotive and maritime engineering, including backgrounds at organizations such as SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, Toyota and Rivian.
