Project Omega Exits Stealth, Raises $12M to Advance Nuclear Fuel Recycling

Project Omega announced it has exited stealth and closed an oversubscribed $12 million seed round to push a laboratory-demonstrated approach to recycling spent nuclear fuel into long-duration, high-density power sources. The company says its mission is to rebuild America’s nuclear fuel cycle end-to-end and turn underutilized spent fuel into generative resources for national security and commercial markets.

Stafford Sheehan, founder and CEO, framed the startup as a practical supplier for a range of use cases. “We need to make sure that we're self-sufficient, we're energy independent. And that means we need the nuclear fuel cycle here in the United States,” Sheehan said, adding, “We're the picks and shovels of the nuclear gold rush.” He also highlighted a technical milestone: “One of the key unlocks we've done here is we've actually taken the energy that's in the spent fuel and we've demonstrated converting that energy into electricity.” Sheehan emphasized product design that avoids wholesale infrastructure changes: “I don't like rebuilding infrastructure.”

Project Omega says the technical work has been a lab-level effort in partnership with national labs. Idaho National Laboratory is handling separation and refining, while Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is converting processed material into products and has begun testing and evaluation of Project Omega’s novel power system. David Koch, a PNNL senior materials scientist leading the lab team, said, “Long-duration, resilient energy sources will be critical for continuing bold scientific discovery across our solar system.” Koch added that the public-private partnership could “transform the conversation around spent nuclear fuel from one of waste to that of an enabling national resource.”

Starship Ventures led the seed round, joined by Mantis Ventures, Buckley Ventures, Decisive Point, Slow Ventures and several unnamed participants. Hugo Peterson, chief operating officer at Starship Ventures, described spent fuel as an overlooked strategic asset: “Spent nuclear fuel may be considered trash for some but we think it is a treasure, and key to unlocking the next century of U.S. energy leadership.” Project Omega is headquartered in Rhode Island and lists 15 employees.

The company is positioning battery-sized radioisotope power units as its initial commercial form factor, saying first offerings could resemble AA or AAA sizes or smaller and serve as drop-in replacements for wearables, sensors, drones and other military systems that require decades-long power. Project Omega also points to space applications, advanced reactor fuel supply, data center resilience and potential government intelligence uses as markets. Forbes reported that a Department of Defense contract is currently being finalized as the company seeks to provide radioisotope generators to government and intelligence customers; Project Omega has said it is partnering with ARPA-E to demonstrate a commercially viable, safe pathway for fuel recycling.

Project Omega has pledged not to do weapons work and has added regulatory expertise to its ranks, listing Chris Hanson, a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chair, as head of implementation. The broader policy context includes the Department of Energy recently awarding $19 million to five companies researching spent fuel recycling technologies.

For readers tracking nuclear technology and supply chains, Project Omega’s exit from stealth advances a clear test case: a private company claiming lab-proven conversion of spent fuel energy to electricity, backed by national lab testing, early investor capital, and an aggressive productization roadmap aimed at military, space and advanced reactor markets. The next benchmarks to watch are PNNL’s test results, separation and scale activities at INL, progress on ARPA-E demonstrations, and whether any government contracts move from negotiated to executed.