introduction
The EnergyTech University Prize (Energy Tech UP) aims to develop the next generation of energy innovators while accelerating the transfer of energy technologies to market. The prize aims to attract today’s talented students and help them develop as the engineers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, market analysts, and project developers of the future. Energy Tech UP is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Technology Transition (OTT) and several other program offices.
Cradle to Commerce (C2C) is a public-private partnership to foster equitable climate tech entrepreneurship and accelerate commercialization of breakthrough climate technologies for the world. C2C is funded by DOE’s Technology Commercialization Fund, administered by the Office of Technology Transition.
Founded in 2021 by then-University of Chicago seniors Kevin O’Sullivan and Mason Rodriguez-Land, nuclear energy startup Alpha Noor is working to create a sustainable nuclear fuel recycling process. In 2022, the student-led company competed in the Office of Technology Transition’s (OTT) EnergyTech University Prize (EnergyTech UP) competition and won the Office of Nuclear Energy’s Technology Bonus Award. The winning presentation included a business plan for a small modular reactor, highlighting how clean, reliable, and affordable nuclear energy can better serve underrepresented populations.
Participating in the competition gave them the opportunity to connect with industry experts and researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories to identify a major pain point for these reactor technologies: fuel supply shortages. Kevin pivoted Alpha Nur to focus on the nuclear fuel cycle in spring 2023. He discussed his concept with teams at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Argonne National Laboratory and continues to work full-time at Alpha Nur to further develop spent nuclear fuel recycling technologies. He secured a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) funded by OTT’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), with additional support from the University of Chicago and the 776 Foundation. This funding source also allowed him to hire additional team members. This CRADA work is a joint effort between INL and Alpha Nur and is already underway.
We spoke to Kevin O’Sullivan, founder and CEO of Alpha Nur, to find out more about the milestones his team has achieved since participating in the EnergyTech UP competition.
Q&A with Kevin O’Sullivan
OTT: Where did the original idea for Alpha Nur come from?
I have always loved nuclear science and engineering. I founded my high school’s Nuclear Science Club in my junior year of high school and invited professors and industry speakers to speak to me and my classmates, so I have been following the advancements in the industry since high school. I went on to the University of Chicago and founded Alpha Nur in my senior year with classmate Mason Rodriguez through the Booth School of Business’ University New Venture Challenge program. Our original business plan, prior to our strategic shift to fuel recycling, was focused on developing small modular nuclear reactors to provide a carbon-friendly power resource to energy poor people.
OTT: How did you find out about EnergyTech UP and how has participating in the EnergyTech UP competition impacted the development of your business?
I learned about EnergyTech UP through college and submitted my initial business plan for a small modular reactor to the competition, but then pivoted my company. Participating in EnergyTech UP connected me to many people at the Department of Energy’s Argonne, Oak Ridge, Idaho, and Sandia National Laboratories through a chain reaction started by Joe Simon, Program Coordinator for EnergyTech UP: – During EnergyTech UP, we were generously provided with in-kind funding from Idaho National Laboratory to do initial design and regulatory analysis.
The scientists and staff at DOE national laboratories are arguably the best and brightest people in the field of nuclear energy in the world. Under their guidance, we recognized that the industry’s biggest challenge was not reactor design, but fuel supply for reactor technology. So we shifted our focus to that problem.
