Terrestrial Energy and Riot Platforms signed a Memorandum of Understanding on May 6, 2026, to develop data centers powered by molten salt nuclear reactors, with a stated target of 4 GW of installed capacity across multiple sites in the United States. The agreement calls for the co-location of IMSR plants — Terrestrial Energy’s fourth-generation Integral Molten Salt Reactor — directly alongside Riot’s facilities dedicated to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
Candidate sites for the first installations include Riot facilities in Texas and Kentucky, with additional locations under evaluation. Each standard configuration features 390 MWe units, and the agreement also allows for natural gas as a transitional energy source during early operational phases, ensuring supply continuity before the nuclear reactors are fully online. The roadmap targets commercial operation of the IMSR in the early 2030s, pending completion of ongoing regulatory and engineering programs. A key technical rationale behind selecting the IMSR is its architecture: the non-nuclear power conversion systems are physically separated from the regulated nuclear systems, enabling hybrid configurations and reducing integration complexity with energy-intensive digital infrastructure.
On the regulatory front, the first quarter of 2026 delivered two significant milestones for Terrestrial Energy. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the Topical Report on the postulated initiating events (PIE) methodology and issued the corresponding Safety Evaluation Report — a step that strengthens the licensing pathway for IMSR construction and operation. The Department of Energy also formalized two Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements supporting the TETRA reactor pilot project and the TEFLA fuel line pilot project. Funded under programs established by the Trump administration’s Executive Order 14301, these agreements give Terrestrial Energy an accelerated path from design to operation, bypassing traditional federal procurement mechanisms. The chosen fuel — standard low-enriched uranium below 5% U-235 — allows the company to sidestep supply chain bottlenecks associated with the high-assay low-enriched uranium used by other advanced reactor developers.
Investment bank BTIG has named Riot Platforms among its top picks for the second half of 2026, citing the nuclear data center collaboration with Terrestrial Energy as one of the positive drivers. BTIG estimates that Riot, with approximately 1.9 GW of uncommitted power capacity and a roughly 1 GW site near Dallas, trades at a below-average multiple compared to peers — around $5 million per megawatt versus a sector average of $7 million. Jefferies has also initiated coverage with a Buy rating. Markets have responded positively: Riot shares jumped 11% on the announcement of the Terrestrial Energy deal.
The broader picture is one of an industry where AI power demand has moved from an abstract challenge to a concrete driver of nuclear investment. With more than 9.8 GW of nuclear capacity already committed through agreements between major tech operators and advanced reactor developers, the race for clean, uninterrupted power for data centers has become a structural trend. Terrestrial Energy, with its molten salt reactor and an advancing regulatory pipeline, is positioning itself in this market with a technology designed from the outset for energy-intensive industrial applications. The coming years will test whether development timelines hold up to expectations — but the direction is set.
