How a failed project could help solve the world’s biggest energy need

[Marlin]

How a failed project could help solve the world's biggest energy need

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/21/how-ai-energy-crisis-revived-failed-nuclear-project/

[Core Content]

Former SpaceX engineers think a long-dormant nuclear reactor experiment is key to meeting the power needs of data centers.

Erik Nygaard with BWXT shows off a nuclear test facility in Lynchburg, Virginia, this month. (Photos by Jonathan Mehring/For The Washington Post)

LYNCHBURG, Va. — The sci-fi-worthy machine soaring 120 feet tall in the hills outside Lynchburg had been all but left for dead — a $400 million experiment that collapsed as the energy economy shifted and the financial prospects for next-generation nuclear technology soured.

Read the full article at The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/21/how-ai-energy-crisis-revived-failed-nuclear-project/