Former SpaceX Engineers Revive Shuttered Nuclear Reactor for AI Data Centers

Two former SpaceX engineers are reviving a shelved nuclear reactor design to power AI data centers. Ben Kellie and Paul Keutelian, who used to build rockets for Elon Musk, founded Applied Atomics in 2025 with the goal of taking a proven but abandoned reactor concept and routing its output directly to data centers that AI companies desperately need to keep powered.

The mPower small modular reactor design they're reviving was originally developed by BWXT and partner Babcock and Wilcox, drawing significant federal and private support before it stalled under the weight of cost overruns and a difficult regulatory environment in 2017. The $400 million invested in development work is effectively a head start for Applied Atomics.

Kellie has pointed to the team's aerospace background as a genuine advantage, citing SpaceX's manufacturing discipline that treated rocket hardware with the rigor traditional aerospace had abandoned. Applied Atomics aims to target first commercial operation around 2031 and is conducting a feasibility study on floating nuclear plants in partnership with Core Power.