A nuclear power startup founded by former SpaceX engineers is turning an industrial warehouse in New Orleans’ Bywater neighborhood into its headquarters and training center. Applied Atomics, which is about a year old, says it will spend more than $8 million transforming an 18,500-square-foot facility at 3333 Chartres St. into office space, a light fabrication shop and a training complex — with no radioactive material ever handled, processed or stored on site.
The company announced the Bywater project as part of its broader plan to build and operate small modular reactor power plants, according to NOLA.com. The building sits near the Mississippi River levee and was previously used for seafood processing, lumber storage, and molasses and syrup distribution, with Turn Services as its most recent tenant. Applied Atomics co-founder and CEO Ben Kellie said the company chose Louisiana for its industrial workforce, supply chain and access to the river, per the same report.
From SpaceX Friends to Reactor Builders
Applied Atomics was founded by former SpaceX engineers, and Kellie has described his co-founders in personal terms on LinkedIn, calling Paul Keutelian, the company’s chief technology officer, a nuclear engineer and “old SpaceX friend.” Mark Lambert serves as chief financial officer, according to the same post. The company also maintains a design and test studio in Los Angeles.
Financially, Applied Atomics has moved quickly. The company said it raised more than $8.3 million in an oversubscribed seed financing round announced in March, bringing its total funding to $12 million in its first year, according to a company release carried by GlobeNewswire. Kellie’s earlier LinkedIn post described an initial oversubscribed $2 million pre-seed round led by Alpaca VC, with Unruly Capital, Fred Stutzer and other former SpaceX colleagues participating.
Betting on an Established Reactor Design
Rather than inventing new reactor technology from scratch, Applied Atomics has partnered with BWXT, a Virginia-based nuclear technology and manufacturing company, according to NOLA.com. A GlobeNewswire release also describes the BWXT partnership. The mPower design is engineered to generate 195 megawatts of electricity and 575 megawatts thermal of heat per reactor.
Applied Atomics has said it is using existing nuclear technology in new ways to shrink research and regulatory approval timelines, according to NOLA.com. The company has discussed industrial customers and hyperscale infrastructure as potential sources of demand for its power plants.
What Bywater Gets — and What It Won't
Interior buildout of Applied Atomics’ offices, control room and fabrication shop is already underway, with the company expecting that work to wrap by the end of 2026 and the office itself ready before year’s end, per NOLA.com. An outdoor training system is expected to come online in the first quarter of 2027, and that training infrastructure will include a model of the company’s planned small modular reactors — used to show regulators how the designs will function, not to house actual nuclear material. Applied Atomics has said the Bywater site will not have radioactive material and will not handle, process or store it.
The company expects to create more than 40 jobs at the campus, employing engineers, welders, mechanics, electricians, technicians and office staff at an average annual salary of $160,000, according to NOLA.com. Applied Atomics will also build a non-working prototype in Bywater as part of the project. The company is reportedly close to announcing a deal to build its first commercial plant and plans to finalize host sites and customer agreements; it expects its modular plants to eventually cost between $500 million and $1 billion each.
A Neighborhood Already in Transition
Applied Atomics isn’t the only newcomer reshaping this stretch of Bywater. Newlab, a Brooklyn-based technology startup accelerator, is building an innovation hub on the site of a former abandoned Navy complex nearby and, like Applied Atomics, expects to complete its new workspace next year, according to NOLA.com.
The project also lands amid a broader state push into nuclear energy. Governor Jeff Landry launched Louisiana’s nuclear strategic framework to guide investment, workforce development and supply chain growth in the sector, and Kellie spoke about Applied Atomics’ approach at the Louisiana Nuclear Strategy and Supply Chain Summit at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans this past spring, per NOLA.com. Salem Habte, director of business development at Greater New Orleans Inc., has said nuclear power matters to a national clean energy strategy because it is powerful, weather-independent, and produces emissions comparable to solar and wind. Kellie said roughly 40 percent of the nation’s chemical and industrial production flows through Louisiana, according to NOLA.com.
The Bigger Picture for Nuclear Power
The United States currently has about 100 gigawatts of nuclear capacity and no commercial small modular reactors in operation, but the country aims to grow capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050, according to NOLA.com. A Federal Register notice dated Feb. 2, 2026, is titled “Categorical Exclusion for Advanced Nuclear Reactors.” Separately, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a page on pre-application activities for advanced reactors.
The company’s BWXT announcement discusses demand for firm power. As the Bywater buildout continues through next year, the company’s progress will offer an early test of whether that demand — and Louisiana’s industrial base — can translate into an operating reactor business built from a converted seafood warehouse on the riverfront.
