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HEXANA, modular sodium-cooled fast-neutron reactor

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Published on 2 April 2025
​Decarbonized heat and power for the most energy-intensive industries, even those with fluctuating demand​

Fossil fuels are currently the only way to meet the substantial heat and power needs of large industrial facilities. HEXANA’s goal is to replace fossil fuels with a cost-competitive low-carbon energy source that uses spent nuclear fuel readily available in France and Europe.

Reactor Building. Credit: Hexena​


HEXANA’s integrated energy platform, the result of CEA small modular reactor (SMR) research dating back to 2019, cleverly combines two sodium-cooled fast-neutron reactors, which produce energy continuously, with a thermal energy storage unit. The buffer capacity provided by this storage unit based on a molten salt is what allows HEXANA’s solution to respond to fluctuating energy demand of up to 800 MW of heat at 500 °C or 300 MW of power.

 
It is ideal for industries with high energy consumption and high GHG emissions looking to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. HEXANA is committed to making this source of energy cost-competitive by leveraging France’s proven and mature nuclear industry. Factory-built reactors assembled on-site and reactors deployed in pairs to reduce construction time and the equipment required for certain functions, will also help keep costs down.
 
The startup’s three founders worked for the CEA. The company, which received a €10 million grant under the national France 2030 innovation plan and raised €15 million in equity, has also signed a partnership agreement with the CEA for ongoing R&D. HEXANA offers the necessary flexibility to compensate for fluctuating, intermittent renewable energy. The first industrial-scale reactor will be commissioned by 2035.  ​


Key figure: 1

HEXANA is the only company that can respond to demand for high heat and power demand, even fluctuating, without fossil fuels.


KEY Markets:

  • Steel making
  • Chemical and petrochemical plants
  • Synthetic fuel / e-fuels /e-SAF manufacturing
  • Data centers
  • Hydrogen and CO2 capture applications​


Technologies used:

  • Modular sodium-cooled fast-neutron reactor
  • Runs off spent fuel from Europe’s conventional nuclear plants
  • Molten-salt heat storage


Year founded: 2023

CEA Institute: CEA-Iresne

https://www.hexana.fr/​