en.Wedoany.com Reported - US AI factory company Crusoe and nuclear energy startup Aalo Atomics have reached a strategic partnership to jointly develop and deploy the first nuclear-powered AI factory data center, validating the effectiveness of nuclear power for AI workloads. Previously, Aalo's Aalo-X test reactor achieved nuclear criticality on July 4, 2026, under the US Department of Energy (DOE) Reactor Pilot Program.

Under the plan, Aalo will first power Crusoe's Spark modular data center at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in 2027, which runs Crusoe Cloud, serving as a proof of concept. Crusoe Spark is a turnkey, prefabricated modular AI data center unit launched by Crusoe, positioned as a self-contained "AI factory"; this highly portable, outdoor-ready enclosure is slightly larger than a standard shipping container, with each standalone container consuming approximately 1 MWe of power.

Aalo-X is an experimental extra-modular reactor (XMR) cooled by sodium and fueled by low-enriched uranium dioxide. The test reactor is the precursor to Aalo Pod—a 50 MWe XMR power plant specifically designed for data centers. Each fully modular Aalo Pod will contain five factory-built, sodium-cooled Aalo-1 reactors using low-enriched uranium dioxide fuel. The two companies plan to deploy Aalo Pod and the 50 MWe XMR power plant at Crusoe data centers by the end of 2029.

Cully Cavness, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Crusoe, stated that next-generation AI infrastructure requires reliable, abundant, clean, and scalable power, and Aalo's nuclear reactors are built precisely for that purpose. One of Crusoe's core values is "bending the curve of energy toward sustainability," and the company plans to leverage its market position to support and accelerate energy innovation, looking forward to demonstrating with Aalo the first AI data center powered by small modular nuclear reactors to the industry.

Matt Loszak, CEO of Aalo Atomics, stated that Aalo is one of only four companies to reach criticality before the deadline set by President Trump for the DOE Reactor Pilot Program. The company now has favorable conditions to achieve full-power operation of the 10 MWe Aalo-X reactor, as well as to deploy Aalo Pod to power commercial data centers. Aalo is now the only nuclear technology company that has designed and built a nuclear reactor capable of producing 10 megawatts of electricity, a milestone that positions it as a leading power supplier for modern data centers.

Aalo has begun construction of a second nuclear reactor next to the Aalo-X test reactor at INL, to test a commercial-scale system capable of producing electricity on-site for a Crusoe Spark modular data center.