2 weeks ago
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HGP Intelligent Energy, a Texas-based startup with an ambitious plan to convert retired US Navy nuclear reactors into commercial power plants, is pursuing a merger with a special purpose acquisition company that would value the combined entity at roughly $1B, according to people familiar with the matter.
The deal would give HGP a public listing and access to capital markets at a moment when every major tech company on the planet is scrambling for reliable power to feed AI workloads.
The CoreHeld Project and its economics
At the center of HGP’s pitch is the CoreHeld Project, which proposes taking pressurized water reactors from decommissioned aircraft carriers and submarines and retrofitting them for commercial electricity generation. Each installation would deliver between 450 and 520 MW of power, enough to run a hyperscale data center campus with room to spare.
Total capital costs for a CoreHeld site are estimated between $1.8B and $2.1B. That translates to roughly $1M to $4M per megawatt, a figure that looks almost modest compared to the ballooning budgets of conventional large reactor builds. For context, new nuclear construction projects in the West have routinely blown past $10M per MW and taken a decade or more to complete.
Load-following capability is another feature HGP is marketing aggressively. Unlike traditional baseload nuclear plants that run at a constant output, these repurposed reactors could ramp power up and down to match the fluctuating demands of AI training clusters, which can swing from idle to full throttle depending on workload scheduling.
Federal backing and the Prometheus program
HGP’s ambitions got a meaningful credibility boost in mid-2026 when the Department of Energy named the company a commercial partner in its Prometheus program. That initiative, backed by over $230M in combined funding, aims to cut nuclear deployment timelines in half and slash operating costs by 50% through the integration of artificial intelligence into reactor management.
The partnership places HGP alongside national laboratories and established nuclear manufacturers. CEO Gregory A. Forero has testified before Congress to advocate for HGP’s suite of advanced technologies, including digital twins for reactor simulation and variable-speed coolant pumps designed to optimize performance in real time.
On the state level, HGP joined the Texas Nuclear Alliance in May 2026. The company has also been actively pursuing DOE site opportunities, including a partnership announced in February 2026 with The Shaw Group, a major engineering and construction firm with deep nuclear sector experience.
Why SPACs, and why now
The choice of a SPAC merger rather than a traditional IPO is telling. SPACs allow companies with limited revenue history but large capital needs to access public markets faster and with more control over their valuation narrative.
HGP’s approach of repurposing existing reactor technology rather than designing new ones from scratch is an attempt to sidestep the two biggest killers of nuclear projects: time and cost uncertainty. Whether regulators will agree that retrofitted naval reactors qualify for streamlined commercial licensing is a question that hasn’t been fully answered yet, and it represents one of the most significant risks facing the venture.
If HGP can actually deliver 450-plus MW installations at its projected cost per megawatt, the economics would undercut virtually every competing new-build nuclear project in the Western world. The gap between military pedigree and commercial viability is exactly where HGP is placing its bet, and now it’s asking public market investors to place it alongside them.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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