Samsung C&T to invest up to $100 million in Kairos Power

Samsung C&T has agreed to invest up to $100 million in Kairos Power under a binding agreement, pairing capital with engineering services to help build the Hermes 2 demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a 50-megawatt plant intended to supply nuclear power to Google. The commitment combines direct equity investment and in-kind engineering services and is subject to regulatory approval, the companies said. A Kairos spokesperson said the equity portion accounts for $70 million of the total. Samsung C&T will join the project's engineering, procurement and construction team, initially handling work on power-generation systems and balance-of-plant infrastructure outside the main nuclear area. The Korean builder has constructed or helped construct about a dozen nuclear reactors worldwide. Kairos Power began building Hermes 2 in Oak Ridge in April 2026, after the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a construction permit in December 2024. The plant is designed to demonstrate Kairos's fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor technology, known as KPFHR, which uses molten fluoride salt as a coolant and operates at lower pressure than conventional water-cooled systems.