Maryland Company Files First Small Nuclear Reactor Request on Texas Grid

A Maryland company has asked to connect the first small modular nuclear reactors to the Texas grid. Blue Energy Global’s request appears in the September interconnection report of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and the grid operator called it “the first-ever application for small modular reactors,” Bloomberg reported.

ERCOT’s report, published October 1, lists three phases of a project called Blue Energy Center, all in Victoria County and all connecting to the same 345-kilovolt line. Two natural gas phases come first: 780 megawatts of gas turbines with a projected start in May 2030, and 330 megawatts of combined-cycle generation in October 2031. The nuclear phase, at 1,320 megawatts, has a projected start of June 15, 2033. The company asked ERCOT for a full interconnection study of the nuclear phase on September 4.

The company describes a larger plant. It plans as many as five 300-megawatt reactors, about 1.5 gigawatts in all, to supply a data center for Crusoe Inc., Bloomberg reported. Blue Energy, based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, will use the BWRX-300 design from GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy.

Two sets of approvals

Whether the plant connects to the grid is decided in Texas, through ERCOT’s study process. Whether the reactors are built depends on a federal license. On September 16, Blue Energy said it had filed the first part of its construction permit application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, including a request to begin “limited construction activities, including deep foundation and shaft works” at its Port of Victoria site. The company expects to file the rest “in the second half of 2027, following the NRC-mandated one calendar year of site-specific data collection.”

“This is serious work done by serious people for a serious project,” Jake Jurewicz, the company’s chief executive and co-founder, said in the announcement.

The state’s fund

Texas has built its own program to draw projects like this one. House Bill 14, passed by the 89th Legislature in 2025, created the Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office in the governor’s office along with a $350 million Texas Advanced Nuclear Development Fund, according to the office. The fund pays out through two reimbursement programs, one for project development and supply chains and one for construction.

Texas will decide whether the plant connects to its grid, and Texas money is available to help build it. The decision on the reactors themselves still belongs to a commission in Washington.