Texas A&M to Explore $1 B High‑Temp Reactor with ZettaJoule

Agreement signed to explore a very‑high temperature modular reactor that could draw $1 billion in research funding. Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and ZettaJoule have entered a partnership to study building a reactor that may unlock a billion dollars in collaborations, industrial partnerships, and federal grants over the next decade [1].

ZettaJoule will construct its 30 MW thermal ZJ0 reactor beside TEES’s Nuclear Engineering & Science Center, with ownership staying with the state agency. The facility will be located in College Station, Texas, and will be owned by TEES, part of the Texas A&M University System [1].

The ZJ0 design draws on Japan’s High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor, a graphite‑moderated, helium‑cooled system operating since 1998. ZettaJoule claims its technology is based on decades of safe, proven operation at the HTTR near Tokyo [1].

Operating at up to 950 °C, the reactor could support synthetic fuels, hydrogen, steelmaking, chemicals, desalination and data‑centre cooling, driving new industrial research pathways. ZettaJoule says the high‑temperature output makes the ZJ0 platform suitable for a wide range of applications and could catalyse up to $1 billion in research collaborations [1].

Texas A&M already runs two research reactors; the ZJ0 would make it the only U.S. university with more than two reactors on campus. Existing reactors are the low‑powered AGN‑201M teaching reactor and a TRIGA pool‑type reactor [1].

ZettaJoule’s leadership includes veterans from X‑energy, Westinghouse, Sumitomo, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Japan’s Atomic Energy Agency. Co‑founders are CEO Mitsuo Shimofuji, former Sumitomo executive; Rumina Velshi, ex‑CNSC head; Kazuhiko Kunitomi, former JAEA deputy director and HTTR project leader; and Jeff Harper, former senior developer at X‑energy and Westinghouse [1].