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General Matter CEO on HALEU, factory‑scale enrichment and the manufacturing path to more power
Summary
Scott Nolan of General Matter described plans to scale fuel enrichment and factory‑built nuclear components, arguing multiple facilities and manufacturing can drive costs down and meet long‑term demand for AI and industrial electrification.
Scott Nolan, founder and CEO of General Matter, told the interview that factory production and multiple facilities will be the path to scaling enrichment and small modular reactor components. "You won't do it at 1 facility. You'll do it at a number of facilities," Nolan said, describing a sequence of site selection, core‑and‑shell construction and equipment commissioning so each facility scales into production and then the next is built.
Nolan said companies are planning modular, factory‑based approaches to lower per‑unit costs and accelerate schedules, drawing a parallel to the automotive and rocket industries. He cited an example of one existing U.S. facility in New Mexico operated by a European consortium and said the country must expand enrichment capacity manyfold if U.S. and allied demand grows. "We have room for 10, a 100 x growth on what the U.S. on US soil, by European countries is doing today," he said.
Why it matters: Nolan argued the supply chain and manufacturing approach—hiring welders and managing projects in an integrated way—can reduce schedule risk and cost overruns that made earlier plants expensive. He said entrepreneurs should expect long time horizons and build with extreme ownership: "We're gonna be hiring thousands of welders...the project itself, we'll manage ourselves."
Nolan and the Secretary also discussed HALEU fuel: Wright said DOE will deliver over 20 tons of HALEU (from down‑blended highly enriched uranium or plutonium mixed with uranium) to bridge to future U.S. enrichment capacity. Nolan described a staged manufacturing buildout (Kentucky site mentioned as an early project) and said companies plan to act as their own EPCs to control schedule and costs.
The conversation underscored that industry officials see manufacturing scale and predictable permitting as prerequisites to meeting long‑term AI and industrial electricity demand. The interview recorded program descriptions and company plans but did not include contract awards or binding procurement commitments.
