Texas A&M TEES signs agreement with ZettaJoule to explore 950°C research reactor

The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and ZettaJoule signed an agreement on Feb. 26, 2026 to explore siting and co-development of ZettaJoule’s ZJ0 very-high-temperature modular research reactor adjacent to TEES’s Nuclear Engineering & Science Center in College Station, Texas. The parties say the platform could produce process heat up to 950°C, the proposed facility would be owned by TEES, and the collaboration could catalyze up to $1 billion in research collaborations, industrial partnerships, and federal funding over the next decade.

ZJ0 is described in the agreement materials as a very-high-temperature, helium-cooled gas research reactor intended for high-temperature process heat research. Engineering News and the TEES materials list target applications including hydrogen production, synthetic fuels, steel production, chemical processes, desalination, and data centers as immediate industrial use cases for 950°C-class heat.

ZettaJoule frames ZJ0 as modernizing technology lineage drawn from Japan’s High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR). World Nuclear News notes HTTR is graphite-moderated and helium-cooled and started up in 1998 at the Oarai Nuclear Hydrogen and Heat Application Research Centre. ZettaJoule was founded in 2023 and operates in the U.S. and Japan, according to the release materials and coverage.

TEES currently operates two research reactors on the College Station campus: the AGN-201M teaching reactor and a pool-type TRIGA reactor. Business Wire and Texas A&M Stories say adding ZJ0 would make Texas A&M the only U.S. university with more than two nuclear research reactors on a single campus. Jeff Harper, ZettaJoule co-founder and chief commercial officer, said, “This agreement is a pivotal milestone toward creating a unique platform for high-temperature process heat research in the U.S.” He also said, “We’re excited to collaborate with TEES and the Texas A&M University System to explore how our reactor can deliver breakthrough energy solutions for academia, industry, and government agencies.”

Mitsuo Shimofuji, ZettaJoule co-founder, president and CEO, added, “We are honored to partner with TEES and the Texas A&M University System, which are among the world’s greatest engineering institutions. Together, our U.S.-Japan collaboration will help shape the future of advanced reactors by modernizing high-temperature technology pioneered in Japan and pairing it with Texas leadership in energy innovation.”

The announcement was distributed as a Business Wire press release on Feb. 26, 2026 and was re-published by Yahoo Finance and The Canadian Press; Yahoo Finance flagged the Business Wire item as a paid press release. TEES posted organizational messaging about the collaboration on its LinkedIn page, which shows roughly 10,498 followers, and the Business Wire metadata indicated the release “features multimedia” and a “4 min read.”

Key technical and contractual details remain unpublished: the text of the signed agreement/MOU is not available in the release materials, and the sources do not provide a construction timeline, project budget, NRC licensing pathway, or specific federal funding commitments. The parties project up to $1 billion in catalytic funding over the next decade; whether that projection translates to formal funding requests, a regulatory roadmap, or a firm construction schedule will depend on follow-up documents and disclosures from TEES and ZettaJoule. For media inquiries, Texas A&M supplied a contact: Alyson Chapman, achapman@tamu.edu.