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The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a construction permit for X-energy to build four small modular reactors at a Dow chemical plant in Texas, TechCrunch reported on November 10, 2026. X-energy said the permit covers four Xe-100 reactors, each rated at 80 megawatts of electricity and 200 megawatts of heat, and that it is the first approval for an advanced reactor at an industrial site in the United States. The permit clears the company to begin building its first reactor, which is not expected to run until the early 2030s. No small modular reactor operates in the US yet, and their promised savings in time and cost have not been proven. The approval is a milestone for advanced nuclear power. The Union of Concerned Scientists questioned X-energy's claim that its helium gas design is safer than many existing reactors, as well as the speed of the approval. Edwin Lyman, its director of nuclear power safety, said the NRC reached the decision by deferring safety questions that should have been resolved first. Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund led X-energy's $500 million Series C-1 round, and Amazon has committed to buying 5 gigawatts of capacity from the company. X-energy's April initial public offering raised $1 billion, but its shares trade at less than half that offering price. TechCrunch reported that the first reactors are likely to be expensive, since nuclear plants cost a great deal and can take years to complete.