新兴技术研究：核裂变技术

Institutional Research Group John MacDonaghSenior Research Analyst,Carbon & Emissions Tech andClean Energy Tech pbinstitutionalresearch@pitchbook.comDatacenter growth and industrial electrification are driving Published on March 10, 2026 PitchBook is a Morningstar company providing the most comprehensive, mostaccurate, and hard-to-find data for professionals doing business in the private markets. Contents Key takeawaysVC activityDemand for nuclear energyNovel technologiesApplications and commercializationOutlook Key takeaways •Rising global electricity demand, driven by electrification, industrial change,and datacenter growth, is reviving interest in nuclear fission as a stable, low-carbon complement to renewables. Renewables continue to expand rapidly, but •VC investment in nuclear fission reached record levels in 2025, driven by a smallbut maturing group of developers and several large VC deals. North America leadsactivity, with Europe as a strong secondary hub, and a mix of specialized and •Startups are developing advanced reactor designs across multiple coolant types,aiming to improve safety, efficiency, and fuel performance, and address long-standing challenges of conventional nuclear plants. These designs add passive •SMRs and microreactors introduce a new commercialization model based onmodularity, factory fabrication, and smaller project footprints. Their full economic VC activity Overall VC deal activity The VC-backed nuclear fission technology space is populated by a relatively lownumber of companies, which strongly affects annual and quarterly dealmaking trends,because deal count and value can vary substantially based on the presence or absenceof a few large transactions. In 2025, VC investment in nuclear fission technologiesreached a record $3.6 billion in deal value, which is more than double the next largestyear—2022’s $1.6 billion. Deal count followed a similar pattern, with a peak of 44 deals The median deal value in 2025 was $19 million, the highest on record for the category.While median deal size has been erratic year to year due to low annual deal counts, ithas consistently exceeded the median for the broader climate tech space, which set The largest 2025 deals included two rounds by X-energy—a $722.8 million SeriesC1 and a $700 million Series D—and TerraPower’s $650 million late-stage VC round.These were the only transactions above $500 million in 2025. In total, the year saw Region trends VC-backed nuclear fission developers are concentrated in North America, Europe, andAsia. North America is the most active region, accounting for 60.5% of companiesraising VC funding. The US alone has 45 companies, and Canada adds two. Europecomprises 29.9% of companies—France is the largest national hub, with eight Investors Many venture and corporate venture investors that invest in nuclear fission approachthe category as part of a broader strategy, either focusing on various segments ofclimate technology or incorporating other areas, such as defense and infrastructure.Within this mix, a smaller group of specialist investors are prioritizing the nuclearenergy space. California-based Nucleation Capital stands out by deal activity, with14 VC deals over the past five years. The company has also made some CCUSdeals, and a high share of its portfolio is made up of fission technology developers. By nuclear fission VC deal count over the past five years, Alumni Ventures and DecisivePoint, both based in the US Northeast, rank second and third, respectively. Grantfunding is also relatively common in the space, and the US Department of Energyand Sweden’s Energimyndigheten (the Swedish Energy Agency) have been the mostsignificant grant funders in the past five years, with the DOE providing support to Demand for nuclear energy The VC ecosystem around nuclear fission energy is heavily impacted by severalfactors, including the growing need for new energy generation, the acknowledgementof the importance of decarbonization, and the historical state of nuclear energy adoption. The past 10 years have seen a substantial shift to electrification, includingstrong changes in both the mobility space and industrial electrification. More recent Growth in energy demand is driving the rapid deployment of energy projects, includingconventional fossil fuels, plus low-carbon technologies. Falling costs for maturerenewable energy technologies like solar and wind have made them cost-competitivewith fossil fuel options across a wide range of environments, and renewable energyis rapidly growing as a share of the global energy mix. Despite growth in renewableenergy adoption, solar and wind energy technologies face challenges that other energy Challenges with conventional nuclear energy These challenges are fueling interest in alternative energy sources that have stablepower outputs and lower space requirements. Nuclear fission energy technologieshave a long history of use, providing consistent power outputs