Deep Fission Targets 2027 Kansas Nuclear Pilot, 2028 Commercial Rollout

Key Points

• Deep Fission is targeting commercial power from its Kansas pilot by December 2027, followed by broader deployments in 2028, including a potential 150-MW project at Great Plains Industrial Park under a 25-year energy purchase agreement.
• The company’s design uses standard low-enriched uranium reactors installed roughly one mile underground; it has completed initial drilling and demonstration work and plans expanded non-nuclear testing of large-diameter boreholes, casing, cementing and instrumentation.
• Deep Fission estimates about $200 million is needed to complete its pilot-to-commercial program, with roughly $71.7 million in cash expected at Sept. 30 and approximately $40 million projected at year-end absent additional financing; targets remain dependent on regulatory, construction, supply-chain and customer milestones.

Deep Fission NASDAQ: FISN outlined its development, regulatory and financing plans for underground nuclear power projects during its October 2026 business update, targeting initial commercial power from a pilot project in Parsons, Kansas, by December 2027 and broader deployments beginning in 2028.

The company is developing a nuclear generation design that combines conventional pressurized water reactor technology, standard low-enriched uranium fuel and deep-borehole drilling. Its approach would place reactor systems in cased and cemented boreholes roughly one mile underground, using the surrounding rock and water column as part of its proposed containment, pressure-management and emergency-cooling approach.

CEO and Co-Founder Liz Muller said the company’s work is organized around regulatory approvals, commercial siting, fuel supply, construction and customers. Deep Fission has received Department of Energy approval for its Nuclear Safety Design Agreement, or NSDA, which Muller described as an early safety-framework step for the DOE pilot program.

Kansas Site and Commercial Targets

Deep Fission controls a 100-acre site at the Great Plains Industrial Park in southeast Kansas, where it plans to develop its DOE demonstration reactor and pursue its first commercial generation projects. The industrial park has several thousand acres of planned data center and industrial development requiring up to 2 gigawatts of power, according to the company.

The company has signed a binding 25-year Master Energy Purchase Agreement with Great Plains Industrial Park. Management did not disclose pricing or other commercial terms. Muller said the agreement supports planned development at the park, including an initial longer-term opportunity of up to 2 GW, with a first potential 150-megawatt deployment targeted for 2028.

For the initial pilot, Deep Fission is targeting up to 5 MW of electricity, reflecting the available grid interconnection path and the company’s effort to move quickly to commercial operation. Muller said the 5-MW threshold can allow faster grid interconnection than a larger project. The company expects its repeat-deployment design, or “Nth-of-a-Kind” reactor, to produce up to 15 MW per unit. Ten such units would represent roughly 150 MW of capacity.

Management said the December 2027 commercial-operation objective remains dependent on regulatory authorizations, construction results, supply-chain readiness, financing and customer agreements.

Drilling and Construction Program

Deep Fission said it has completed a roughly 6,000-foot data-acquisition borehole in Kansas, providing information on subsurface rock, drilling behavior and fluids. It also completed a shallow Florida demonstration in which a full-size non-nuclear canister was installed and retrieved.

The next phase involves a program of large-diameter drilling and non-nuclear testing, rather than a single borehole. The company plans to test rock removal, borehole straightness, casing installation, cementing, thermal equipment and instrumentation. Vice President of Drilling and Well Completion David Nelson said Deep Fission is collaborating with Youngquist Brothers on drilling methods, including reverse-circulation techniques for removing rock cuttings.

Nelson said the company is not yet providing a per-borehole cost estimate. However, Muller said the planned research and development cost associated with developing 60-inch-diameter boreholes has declined because of the Youngquist collaboration and recent technical learnings.

For future operations, the company plans to use each reactor canister for an expected seven to 10 years before replacing the entire unit rather than refueling it in place. COO Mike Brasel said a borehole is currently designed for a 40-year operating life and could potentially accommodate four or five reactor canisters, subject to continued borehole-integrity monitoring.

Fuel, Licensing and Economics

Deep Fission has announced a uranium purchase arrangement with Urenco for standard low-enriched uranium. Management said the enriched uranium product for the pilot has already been procured, while longer-term supply agreements remain in progress. Fuel fabrication is scheduled for mid-2027, according to the company.

Alongside the DOE pilot work, Deep Fission is engaging with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on commercial licensing. The company is targeting the NRC’s proposed Part 57 framework for standardized, high-volume deployment of low-consequence reactor designs, while also discussing other licensing pathways. Brasel said the NRC would independently approve any commercial license.

CFO Mark Schmitz said Deep Fission intends to operate under a build-own-operate model, retaining ownership interests in project companies and receiving project-level electricity cash flows. The company also expects potential revenue from intellectual-property licensing, site-specific engineering and operations and maintenance services.

• Targeted upfront capital cost for a 15-MW Nth-of-a-Kind reactor: approximately $84 million in 2024 economics, including initial fuel.
• Expected operating cash flow over a projected 40-year reactor life: approximately $600 million per 15-MW unit.
• Illustrative power price used in the company’s economics: $110 per megawatt-hour in 2024 economics.
• Expected cash balance as of Sept. 30: $71.7 million, with about $40 million projected at year-end absent additional financing.

Schmitz said the company estimates approximately $200 million of total spending to complete its pilot-to-commercial program, of which about $40 million had been spent. Deep Fission expects to expense costs related to the first project rather than capitalize them, while future project costs could be capitalized.

Muller said management and certain board members plan to buy company stock when the trading window opens in the coming weeks.

About Deep Fission (NASDAQ:FISN)

Deep Fission Inc develops and deploys small modular nuclear reactors placed deep underground to generate electricity. Deep Fission Inc is based in Berkeley, California.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.