French startup Calogena wins €40 million EU grant to build first commercial nuclear reactor
French startup Calogena, which is developing a small modular reactor for district heating networks, has received a €40 million grant from the European Commission's Innovation Fund. It is the first time EU funding has been awarded to an SMR for building a specific commercial facility.
Calogena, a French nuclear startup developing a small modular reactor (SMR) to supply low-carbon heat to district heating networks, has received a €40 million grant from the European Commission's Innovation Fund. The company says it is the first time European funding has been awarded to an SMR earmarked for the direct construction of a commercial facility.
The money will go toward building Calogena's first commercial reactor in Pierrelatte, France, which would serve as its inaugural commercial reference project. The town would receive locally produced, low-carbon heat in place of carbon-intensive, largely imported energy sources, which currently account for nearly one-third of Europe's total energy demand.
The reactor design
Calogena was founded in 2021 as a subsidiary of Groupe Gorgé, a Paris-based high-tech industrial group with roughly 3,500 employees and €600 million in revenue. Its reactor is a 30-thermal-megawatt, water-cooled SMR based on pool-type research reactor technology, a design used in hundreds of installations worldwide. It runs at 100°C and 6 bar of pressure, which the company says makes it simpler and safer to operate than conventional power reactors.
The plant needs only 3,000 square metres of land and under 1,000 square metres of buildings. It requires no major water or electricity supply, and refuelling takes one lorry delivery every two years. A single module can heat around 20,000 households.
Funding and plans
The grant follows more than €50 million already secured under France 2030, the national industrial strategy programme, which supported the technology's development. Executive Chairman Julien Dereux said the European support confirms the project's maturity. The company is also in contention to supply more than fifteen reactors in Finland, where it opened a subsidiary in 2025, and in June it signed a cooperation agreement with Veolia, a European district heating leader, to explore deployments across Central and Eastern Europe.
Calogena is targeting initial deployments from 2030, with the Pierrelatte reactor scheduled to go live in 2032.
