Officials in Kansas have broken ground on a nuclear energy project that could redefine how atomic power plants are built and operated. According to KCUR, startup Deep Fission has begun preparations to install a small nuclear reactor nearly a mile underground in the town of Parsons, marking a first-of-its-kind approach to commercial nuclear power in the United States.
The reactor will be located beneath the Great Plains Industrial Park, a former U.S. Army ammunition facility. The site is being positioned as a future hub for data centers and other energy-intensive industries that require reliable, round-the-clock power. By placing the reactor deep below ground, the company aims to improve safety, reduce surface footprint, and simplify long-term waste containment.
Deep Fission’s design centers on drilling narrow, 30-inch-wide shafts approximately one mile deep. A compact fission reactor is installed at the bottom, submerged in water. Heat from the reactor turns the water into steam, which rises naturally to the surface to spin turbines and generate electricity. Once cooled, the water condenses and flows back down the shaft, creating a closed-loop system with minimal surface infrastructure.
The underground placement is a core part of the safety case. Company leadership says radioactive material would remain sealed beneath billions of tons of rock, providing natural shielding and isolation. Deep Fission has stated that surrounding groundwater supplies will remain protected, with geological barriers acting as an additional safeguard against contamination.
Each reactor is designed to operate for roughly two to seven years and produce enough electricity to power about 10,000 homes. When a reactor reaches the end of its service life, it can be sealed off underground. A new reactor could then be installed above it, allowing the same shaft to be reused without disturbing surface operations.
The project is also being pitched as a solution to the growing energy demands of data centers, which are expanding rapidly alongside artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Deep Fission has partnered with Endeavor, the parent company of Edged, which develops waterless data centers. This addresses a major concern around conventional facilities that consume vast quantities of water for cooling.
Founded in 2023 by CEO Liz Muller and her father, physicist Rich Muller of the University of California, Berkeley, the company hopes to have its first reactor operational by mid-2026. While nuclear fission remains controversial due to radioactive waste, it produces no carbon emissions during operation and offers a stable alternative to fossil fuels. If successful, the Parsons project could signal a new direction for nuclear power deployment in the United States.
