Project Omega

America has ~95,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel and more than 90% of its energy is still unused. That’s an energy challenge and a national security opportunity. Today, we’re introducing Project Omega as we emerge from stealth. We’re building the next generation of nuclear fuel recycling – designed for safety, proliferation resistance, and real recycling. Join us. projectomega.com #NuclearEnergy #NationalSecurity #EnergyAbundance

Our recruiting pitch is short. The U.S. has an abundant energy source that can help power the innovations of the future from AI acceleration to electrification. Project Omega has a plan to unlock nuclear’s full potential: from recycling used nuclear fuel to developing long-duration power sources from isotopes. Join us in rebuilding the nuclear fuel cycle end-to-end.

The constraint on autonomous systems right now isn’t AI. It’s energy. You can build the most sophisticated autonomous robot (humanoid, UAV, USV, UUV) on the planet, but the moment it runs out of battery, you lose momentum to your mission. That's what we're working on at Project Omega. The power problem is the bottleneck everyone should be paying attention to.

"Nuclear waste" is the term everyone uses for the spent fuel rods that come out of nuclear reactors. The term is on the news and in the legislation, but it’s completely misleading. What comes out of the nuclear power process is used nuclear fuel. Not “waste”. Used fuel with potential. 96% of it is still uranium and other transuranics, and it still retains more than 90% of the energy it had when it was used the first time. Calling it "nuclear waste" is like calling a rechargeable battery that needs recharging "battery trash." Instead, it should be rebranded as a resource. France understands this, and they built an entire fuel-recycling infrastructure around the idea. They separate out the reusable uranium, fabricate it into fresh fuel, and run it back through their reactors. And they sell the usable energy and isotopes, even here to the U.S. Countries that recycle used nuclear fuel are a step closer to energy independence, stable electricity prices, a secure supply chain. Meanwhile, the United States has 90,000 metric tons of "waste" sitting next to reactors at 52 sites across the country. We see this waste as an economic opportunity and a national security necessity. Language matters. Words shape policy. Policy shapes infrastructure. Infrastructure shapes whether a country is energy independent or dependent on adversaries. Let’s reframe this conversation.

The nuclear industry celebrated the second initial criticality of a microreactor under the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program! Coupled with the dusting off of one of the previously leading SMR designs, BWXT’s mPower, there’s a long list of significant headlines to review in this weekend’s issue of The Nuclear Review’s News Rundown: DOE RPP @valaratomics Criticality @DeployableE DSA @COREPOWER10's Sea mPower @Applied_Atomics's Land mPower @ElementlPower Picks BWRX-300 KHNP Sites Nuclear Projects @standardnuclear IPO @zeno_power Hot Cells @ProjectOmegaHQ Rads to Watts @NaturaResources HALEU Supply Port Calls For Nuclear Ships NRC Fuel Infrastructure NRC FONSI For TMI @TerraPower UK GDA Hatch SLR Approved Canada-Poland Agreement

The @NRCgov proposed updates to Part 70 may not grab headlines, but they could become one of the most important regulatory developments for the future of nuclear recycling in the United States. At @ProjectOmegaHQ, nuclear recycling is at the core of our mission. Drawing on the expertise of regulatory leaders like former NRC Chairman Christopher Hanson and fuel cycle expert Samantha Lav now at Omega, we've been closely evaluating what these changes mean for the future of the U.S. nuclear industry. The proposal takes several important steps forward: -Recognizes recycling facilities as fuel cycle facilities, not reactors. An important distinction. -Creates a more predictable licensing pathway for developers and investors. -Adopts a risk-informed framework that supports innovation while maintaining safety. But there is still work to do: -Resolve remaining technical licensing gaps with clear regulatory guidance. -Modernize waste storage and decommissioning requirements. -Scale security, quality assurance, and operational requirements to actual facility risk. The stakes to getting this right are bigger than regulation. Nuclear recycling represents an opportunity to strengthen America's fuel supply chain, recover strategic materials, support advanced reactors, and build an entirely new nuclear economy that advances both energy and national security. This Part 70 proposal is a significant step forward. Now we have an opportunity to get it right. @staffsheehan

Today we're proud to announce that Project Omega is joining @MorganStateU, @northropgrumman, @PNNLab, ARA, and Widetronix, Inc. as part of @DARPA "Rads to Watts" program. This effort brings together a unique combination of academia, industry, national laboratory expertise, and commercial technology innovators to solve one of the most important challenges facing future defense and space systems: persistent power. Through the SYMPHONEE project, our team will explore how isotopes recovered from used nuclear fuel can be transformed into compact, long-duration power sources capable of operating for decades without refueling or battery replacement. The implications are significant: resilient power for undersea infrastructure, remote sensing, autonomous systems, and future space missions where logistics, maintenance, and resupply are often impossible. Looking forward to working with this team to redefine what's possible for power at the tactical edge. Read more: businesswire.com/news/home/2026… #AbundantEnergy #NuclearEnergy #NationalSecurity @staffsheehan

Release: businesswire.com/news/home/2026…“Rads-to-Watts”-Contract-Awarded-to-Morgan-State-University-and-a-Multi-Organizational-Team-to-Deliver-Next-Generation-Nuclear-Micro-Power-Systems-for-Extreme-Environments

Today we're proud to announce that @ProjectOmegaHQ is joining @MorganStateU, @northropgrumman, @PNNLab, ARA, and Widetronix, Inc. as part of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency @DARPA's Rads to Watts program. This effort brings together a unique combination of academia, industry, national laboratory expertise, and commercial technology innovators to solve one of the most important challenges facing future defense and space systems: persistent power. Through the SYMPHONEE project, our team will explore how isotopes recovered from used nuclear fuel can be transformed into compact, long-duration power sources capable of operating for decades without refueling or battery replacement. The implications are significant: resilient power for undersea infrastructure, remote sensing, autonomous systems, and future space missions where logistics, maintenance, and resupply are often impossible. Looking forward to working with this team to redefine what's possible for power at the tactical edge. Release in comments. Image: Depiction of SYMPHONEE team's multi-junction silicon carbide (SIC) structure designed to operate with strontium-90 and yttrium-90 (MSU) #AbundantEnergy #NuclearEnergy #NationalSecurity

Thank you to the @UCANPowerDC team for the opportunity to discuss how @ProjectOmegaHQ is helping to reshape the future of nuclear energy. In the conversation, @CDmAI and @staffsheehan Sheehan explored a simple but important question: What if the materials we currently call "nuclear waste" are actually strategic assets? From recycling used nuclear fuel into both new reactor fuel and critical isotopes to develop long-duration power sources, the United States has an opportunity to unlock tremendous value from resources already in our inventory. They also discussed the growing role of advanced fuel cycle technologies, recent work supporting @ARPAE and @DARPA initiatives, and why energy resilience and national security are increasingly linked. Appreciate the thoughtful discussion and the chance to share Project Omega's vision for turning yesterday's liabilities into tomorrow's competitive advantage. Listen now to learn how innovation is reshaping the nuclear fuel cycle and why it matters for national security and energy resilience: youtube.com/watch?si=qeV-q… #NuclearEnergy #EnergyAbundance #NationalSecurity

Most people have never heard the word "betavoltaic." Here's the simplest explanation: A solar panel converts sunlight directly into electricity. A betavoltaic does the exact same thing. Same fundamental concept. Same conversion process. The only difference: the radiation doesn't come from the sun. It comes from an isotope sitting right next to the semiconductor. Think of a betavoltaic as a solar cell with its own built-in sun. A solar panel stops working the moment you take it out of the light; in total darkness, deep underwater, on the far side of the moon. It doesn't need a grid or a fuel line. It works continuously for decades. What we're building is effectively a new power source category.

There's a piece of nuclear waste in every house in the U.S. Your smoke detector developed in the 1960s. In them, there is Americium-241 (a recycled isotope) that emits alpha particles and creates a small electrical current inside the detector. When smoke enters the detector, it intercepts those alpha particles, disrupts that current, and sets off the alarm. It is surprising to most people to learn that nuclear is already woven into the fabric of everyday life. Medical isotopes. Power sources for space. Battery replacements that last 30 years without charging. 96% of spent nuclear fuel is reusable and has dozens of applications. But the conversation around nuclear waste is almost entirely about fear. Something that has 95% of its energy remaining and nobody asks: what else can we do with it?

The U.S. has 100,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel stored. It still contains more than 90% of its original energy. But today, there is no way to recover any of it. Project Omega’s goal is to change that, together with Idaho National Laboratory and with the contract we announced in April from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, we are now executing. Most nuclear recycling attempts rely on a process that has a massive wastewater problem. Our pyroprocessing approach skips all of that to separate materials with fewer secondary waste streams. There’s a $100B+ liability sitting in temporary storage right now, and taxpayers are on the hook for long-term waste management of material that could be powering the grid. We see this liability as an opportunity.

We’re excited to welcome Dr. Cameron Goodwin to Project Omega as our new Head of Research & Development. Dr. Goodwin brings more than a decade of leadership across nuclear operations, regulation, and advanced reactor innovation. Most recently, she served as Director of the Rhode Island Atomic Energy Commission, where she oversaw the state’s only nuclear facility and led all operational and regulatory efforts. Prior to that, she held key roles at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, contributing to operating reactor licensing and advancing next-generation technologies, including SMRs and non-lightwater reactors. #NuclearEnergy #EnergyAbundance #NationalSecurity @staffsheehan @johannajones

With more advanced technology in development, there are new needs for energy: from AI, drones and vehicles. When these technologies are deployed for with our men and women in uniform, our forward operating bases require continuous energy sources but it’s often in places that are incredibly difficult to resupply. Getting fuel or batteries to those locations is dangerous, expensive, and increasingly what adversaries target first. This contested logistics problem, one of the greatest and underdiscussed national security challenges the U.S. faces. Right now, the solutions are mostly diesel generators and lithium batteries, but diesel requires constant resupply convoys, which are vulnerable and costly What we need is a power source that doesn't run out and that doesn't need a convoy to refuel. A type of power that can operate for years in remote or hostile environments without human intervention. That's not a fantasy because the physics exists. Radioisotope power systems (nuclear batteries) have been doing exactly this for decades on deep space probes. Voyager 1 has been running on one battery since 1977 and is still transmitting data from interstellar space. The question is why we haven't industrialized it for the applications that need it most. You run out of energy before you run out of bullets.

“Think about an AA battery that lasts for 30 years.” I had an eye opening conversation with @staffsheehan about recycling nuclear waste and the enormous potential of this resource. @ProjectOmegaHQ is working to turn it into power cells which last for decades. My latest for @arenamagdotcom.

@carsonjbecker @staffsheehan @ProjectOmegaHQ Read it here: arenamag.com/articles/princ…

We worked with the @ProjectOmegaHQ while still in stealth to help introduce themselves to the world. This is the first of many to come with them.