Bluecore Energy 已筹集 1000 万美元，以在长滩测试其浮动核反应堆。

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.

这一区别对一位进军技术领域中最缓慢且监管最严市场之一的创始人来说很重要。在8月18日接受 Forbes 的采访中，Asante 描述了在港口日益增长的电力需求变得无法忽视之后离开了一份电动船舶的工作。Bluecore 的赌注是，反应堆最终可以模块化制造，安装在驳船上并移近需要电力的港口、社区和数据中心。

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.

Asante 是通过物流进入核能领域的。这位 2017 年 Tufts 毕业生在 Uber Freight 推动推出了 Powerloop，一项旨在让卡车承运人使用预装拖车并减少等待货物时间的计划。他后来在无人货运飞机开发商 Elroy Air 负责战略与业务发展，并在 Port of Long Beach 参与了电动拖船项目。2020 年 Tufts 的报道在这些岗位中也追溯到同一主题：Asante 希望扩大那些因地理位置而难以获得的基础设施的可及性。

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.

Bluecore 表示其初期设计为 10 MWe 的水冷反应堆，利用热量产生蒸汽以驱动汽轮发电机。根据 Bluecore 的说法，一个模块可发电约相当于 15,000 户家庭的用电量，并且可将多个单元并列安装。

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.

该设计仍在开发中。7月17日公布的一份加州环境备案将 Long Beach 的设备描述为用于测试传感器、控制以及驳船运动影响的空钢制容器主体。备案称 Bluecore 在港口场址不会使用任何核燃料，并计划在 Idaho National Laboratory 进行与核能相关的专门测试。

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.

这份租赁为 Bluecore 提供了位于港口 D48 仓库内约 10,000 平方英尺的空间、毗邻的铺装区域以及大约 6,000 平方英尺的水下土地用于系泊驳船。初始期限为两年，并有可延长三年的选项。

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.

对于这家成立七个月的反应堆开发者来说，这是一个重要的物理立足点。但这也使其面临与核能开发时间表相关的短期时钟。Bluecore 必须将当前的测试硬件转化为可支持监管、船级认证和商业化工作的工程证据，这些工作在其7 月发布的启动公告中有所描述。

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.

Bluecore 表示其安全架构包括水冷、被动安全特性以及五道物理屏障：燃料芯体、包壳、反应堆压力容器、钢制防护壳和环绕的水屏蔽。这些是设计主张。目前在 Long Beach 的原型旨在帮助 Bluecore 在装燃料测试之前验证该设计的部分内容。

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 of Long Beach 为 Bluecore 提供了空间以及其反应堆拟服务环境的准入。该港口并未被确定为商业供电客户。

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.

港口首席执行官 Noel Hacegaba 告诉 Forbes，Bluecore 并非通过竞争性流程被选中。Asante 在寻找场地时接洽了港方，浮动反应堆的概念对港方官员来说足够新颖，因此给了 Bluecore 一定的发展空间。Bluecore 还将支持与港口和 U.S. Maritime Administration 之间就安全协议、基础设施和监管准备所进行的合作协议相关讨论。

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.

此位置将 Bluecore 置于推动其市场的机制旁。Port of Long Beach 预计，随着货物处理设备电气化以及集装箱吞吐量在 2050 年前增长，其电力需求将上升。理论上，反应堆驳船可以在接近该需求的位置就位，而无需在密集的沿海城市内选址传统发电厂。

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.

海上核能发电在军事上已是成熟做法，但在商业上仍未定型。National Reactor Innovation Center 将港口反应堆和浮动海上系统列为潜在应用，同时包括 CORE POWER 在内的公司正在推进更大型的船载核能设计。Bluecore 则通过相对较小的、目标初期聚焦于美国港口的 10 MWe 轻水设计来区分自己。

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.

Asante 的团队反映出该问题的技术广度。Bluecore 的工程领导团队包括前 U.S. Navy 核潜艇军官 Megan Moyette、前 SpaceX 工程师 Andrew Phillips、前 Blue Origin 与 Northrop Grumman 工程师 Jonathan Kyle、Toyota 生产资深 William Zimmer 以及核芯设计负责人 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.

据 Bluecore 称，Slauson & Co. 领投了 Bluecore 约 1,000 万美元的 pre-seed 融资。Harlem Capital、Precursor Ventures、LMNT Ventures、Visible Hands VC、Karman Ventures、Capital Factory、Share VC、X&、Markham Ventures、Ripple 联合创始人 Chris Larsen 以及 Hartbeat Ventures 也参与了本轮融资。该轮于 7 月 21 日宣布，几乎比 Forbes 的人物报道早了一个月，Bluecore 称该轮超额认购。

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.

这笔融资为 Asante 提供了组建团队并产出工程数据的资金。如果 Bluecore 要从空测试容器推进到获证并装燃料的反应堆，核能开发将需要更多的资本。眼下的投资逻辑主要依赖于 Asante 在推出复杂交通产品方面的履历以及他对港口的准入，而非一个可运营的反应堆或已签约的电力收入。

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.

Asante 也将自己作为核能领域黑人创始人的身份视为工作的一部分。他对 Forbes 说：“我是第一个黑人核能创始人，”他希望这一特权将有更多黑人、有色人种和女性创始人随后跟进。这一说法是 Asante 的表述，Bluecore 及其投资者也重复了这一表述。

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.

他对代表性（representation）的强调早于 Bluecore。在 Uber 和 Elroy Air 任职期间，Asante 曾公开谈论扩大对物流与技术领导力的可及性。Bluecore 则给了这一长期理念一个更艰难的检验：一位习惯于快速推进货运和航空项目的创始人，能否在应对核工程、联邦监管和海事安全规则时维持这样的节奏。

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.