John Paulson, founder and president of Paulson & Co., has joined the board of directors of Momentum Power effective immediately. The New York-based startup, which develops modular nuclear reactors designed to be installed on the ocean floor, announced today the closing of a direct investment from Paulson, one of the most prominent hedge fund managers in the world.
The technology at the heart of this deal could hardly be further from a conventional reactor. Momentum Power builds ultra-modular boiling water reactors, assembled in a shipyard and then transported and positioned on the seabed. The ocean acts as a natural heat sink, eliminating the need for cooling towers and the bulk of the reinforced concrete that defines land-based construction sites — historically the single largest cost driver and the primary cause of delays in conventional nuclear projects. The systems are inspected and maintained using remotely operated underwater vehicles.
The scientific foundation of the technology was laid by Professor Ju Li, co-founder of Momentum Power and a faculty member in Nuclear Engineering, Materials Science, and the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor in Power Engineering at MIT. The company pairs this academic expertise with professionals who have backgrounds at Westinghouse, the U.S. Navy, and infrastructure finance. Co-CEO Jose Gutierrez is a former chief executive of Westinghouse Electric itself.
The capital raised will fund technology development and commercialization, engineering activities, and the regulatory approval process, with the goal of reaching operational deployment. Target markets include data centers, utilities, and energy-intensive industrial customers — sectors experiencing growing demand for reliable, low-emission power. Paulson has stated that he sees in nuclear energy “the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of nuclear power and accelerate its adoption.”
The involvement of an investor of Paulson’s stature carries weight well beyond the capital itself. Paulson & Co. manages billions of dollars, and its founder is renowned for engineering some of the most profitable trades in recent financial history. His presence on the board signals to financial institutions and potential industrial partners that the speculative phase is behind them and that commercialization is a concrete objective. For Momentum Power, which operates in a segment that has yet to produce a commercially available product, this kind of capital markets validation is a critical factor in attracting subsequent funding rounds.
Seabed nuclear is not a technology on the verge of near-term commercial deployment, but the architecture Momentum Power is pursuing addresses a genuine problem: the main reason land-based reactors cost too much and take too long is on-site construction, with thousands of workers and highly variable conditions. Shifting assembly to a standardized shipyard environment — as is done with vessels — could fundamentally reshape the economic equation. If the regulatory pathway — which for a submarine reactor remains largely uncharted — opens with the same speed that the nuclear sector is currently attracting institutional attention, Momentum Power could reach the demonstration phase with the resources and the standing needed to make its case.
