Nuclear Turbines secures £15m funding for compact reactors

A Manchester-based startup developing a novel compact nuclear power system has secured 15 million pounds in new funding to advance its technology, which aims to make nuclear energy cheaper and faster to deploy. Nuclear Turbines, a company spun out of the defense giant BAE Systems, announced the foundational funding round on July 27, 2026.

The investment, led by IQ Capital with participation from Rhapsody Venture Partners, Zero Carbon Capital, and Empirical Ventures, will be used to validate the company's reactor design, construct large-scale test rigs, expand its team, and prepare to manufacture its first fuel elements.

The company's core innovation is a technical substitution that replaces the bulky, high-pressure steam turbine systems found in conventional nuclear plants with high-temperature gas turbine technology borrowed from jet engines and gas-fired power stations. By eliminating the need for extensive steam infrastructure, the company says its system becomes compact enough to be deployed "behind the meter" directly at industrial sites. This could provide a resilient, low-carbon power source for energy-intensive facilities like manufacturing plants, factories, and data...