Bluecore Energy raised $10M to test its floating nuclear reactor at Long Beach

Why it matters

Bluecore has secured capital, a barge and a port lease before licensing or customers. Its next milestones will show whether founder speed can survive nuclear regulation.

Kofi Asante founded Bluecore Energy in January 2026 and, by July 21st, had raised approximately $10 million to develop compact nuclear reactors on barges. The unusually fast start put Bluecore inside the Port of Long Beach with a warehouse, a 185-foot barge and an electric test vessel. It did not put a working nuclear power plant in the water.

That distinction matters for a founder taking on one of technology's slowest and most regulated markets. In an August 18th interview with Forbes, Asante described leaving an electric-ship job after the port's growing electricity requirements became impossible for him to ignore. Bluecore's bet is that reactors can eventually be manufactured in compact modules, mounted on barges and moved closer to ports, communities and data centers that need power.

Asante arrived at nuclear through logistics. The 2017 Tufts graduate helped launch Powerloop at Uber Freight, an effort to give truck carriers access to preloaded trailers and reduce time spent waiting for cargo. He later led strategy and business development at autonomous cargo-aircraft developer Elroy Air and worked on an electric tugboat program at the Port of Long Beach. A 2020 Tufts profile traced the same theme through those roles: Asante wanted to expand access to infrastructure that geography had placed out of reach.

Bluecore applies that thesis to electricity. Asante argues that coastal communities should be able to receive power without waiting for years of land-based transmission development. The reactor is the technology. Port access is the distribution strategy.

A reactor plan and an unfueled prototype

Bluecore says its initial design is a 10 MWe water-cooled reactor that would use heat to produce steam and drive a turbine-generator. According to Bluecore, one module could generate electricity equivalent to the consumption of approximately 15,000 homes, and multiple units could be installed together.

The design remains under development. A California environmental filing posted July 17th describes the equipment at Long Beach as an empty steel vessel core used to test sensors, controls and the effects of barge movement. The filing says Bluecore will use no nuclear fuel at the port site and plans to conduct nuclear-specific testing at Idaho National Laboratory.

The lease gives Bluecore approximately 10,000 square feet inside the port's D48 warehouse, adjacent paved areas and roughly 6,000 square feet of submerged land for mooring a barge. Its initial term is two years, with an option for a three-year extension.

That is a meaningful physical foothold for a seven-month-old reactor developer. It also sets a short clock against nuclear development timelines. Bluecore must turn its current test hardware into engineering evidence that can support the regulatory, maritime classification and commercialization work described in its July launch announcement.

Bluecore says its safety architecture includes water cooling, passive safety features and five physical barriers: the fuel core, cladding, reactor vessel, steel containment and a surrounding water shield. Those are design claims. The current Long Beach prototype is meant to help Bluecore validate parts of that design before fueled testing.

The port is a proving ground

The Port of Long Beach has provided Bluecore with space and access to the environment its reactor is meant to serve. The port has not been identified as a commercial power customer.

Port CEO Noel Hacegaba told Forbes that Bluecore was not selected through a competitive process. Asante approached the port while looking for space, and the floating-reactor concept was novel enough for port officials to give Bluecore room to develop it. Bluecore will also support discussions connected to a cooperation agreement between the port and the U.S. Maritime Administration covering safety protocols, infrastructure and regulatory readiness.

The location puts Bluecore next to the machinery driving its market. The Port of Long Beach expects its electricity requirements to increase as cargo-handling equipment is electrified and container volumes grow toward 2050. A reactor barge could theoretically arrive near that demand without requiring a conventional power plant site inside a dense coastal city.

Maritime nuclear power is an established military practice and an unsettled commercial proposition. The National Reactor Innovation Center identifies reactors at ports and floating offshore systems as potential applications, while companies including CORE POWER are pursuing larger ship-based nuclear designs. Bluecore is differentiating itself with a relatively small, 10 MWe light-water design aimed initially at U.S. ports.

Asante's team reflects the technical breadth of the problem. Bluecore's engineering leaders include former U.S. Navy nuclear-submarine officer Megan Moyette, former SpaceX engineer Andrew Phillips, former Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman engineer Jonathan Kyle, Toyota production veteran William Zimmer and nuclear core design lead Kwadwo Adutwum.

Investors are backing the operator before the reactor

Slauson & Co. led Bluecore's approximately $10 million pre-seed financing. Harlem Capital, Precursor Ventures, LMNT Ventures, Visible Hands VC, Karman Ventures, Capital Factory, Share VC, X&, Markham Ventures, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and Hartbeat Ventures also participated, according to Bluecore. The round was announced on July 21st, nearly a month before the Forbes profile, and Bluecore described it as oversubscribed.

The financing gives Asante money to assemble a team and produce engineering data. Nuclear development will require considerably more capital if Bluecore advances from an empty test vessel to a licensed, fueled reactor. The immediate investment case rests heavily on Asante's record launching complicated transportation products and his access to the port, rather than an operating reactor or contracted electricity revenue.

Asante also sees his position as a Black founder in nuclear energy as part of the work. He told Forbes, "I'm the first black nuclear founder," a distinction he hopes will be followed by many more Black, brown and women founders. The claim is Asante's characterization, repeated by Bluecore and its investors.

His emphasis on representation predates Bluecore. At Uber and Elroy Air, Asante spoke publicly about widening access to logistics and technology leadership. Bluecore gives that long-running idea a harder test: whether a founder accustomed to moving freight and aircraft programs quickly can maintain that pace while working through nuclear engineering, federal oversight and maritime safety rules.

For now, Asante has secured the ingredients a founder can control early: capital, experienced technical leaders, test hardware and a place to build beside the intended market. The reactor itself remains the long part of the journey.