Project Omega just stepped out of stealth with $12M in seed capital, and if you listen closely you can hear 90,000+ metric tons of spent nuclear fuel clearing its throat.
This round was led by Starship Ventures, with Mantis Ventures, Buckley Ventures, Decisive Point, Slow Ventures and others leaning in. Not a tourist list. A conviction list. The kind of cap table that says, “Yes, we read the footnotes.” Omega Project Co., incorporated in Texas and operating out of Rhode Island, is not chasing vibes. It is rebuilding the nuclear fuel cycle end to end and turning yesterday’s liability into tomorrow’s baseload advantage.
Congratulations to Dr. Stafford Wheeler Sheehan, Founder and CEO, and Nadav Shoval, Co Founder and Director, for dragging one of the most misunderstood assets in America back into the conversation. Dr. Stafford Wheeler Sheehan has been here before. As co founder and former CTO of Air Company, chemistry was never the problem. Now he is applying that scientific muscle to molten salt processes that extract isotopes like strontium 90 from spent fuel and pair them with custom semiconductors that convert radiation directly into electricity. Not batteries you recharge. Power sources that just keep humming.
Project Omega is partnering with ARPA E under the NEWTON program to make recycling commercially viable, working with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where Dr. David Koch and team have already produced a proof of concept device, and collaborating with Idaho National Laboratory on separation and refinement. There is also a Department of Defense contract being finalized. Translation: this is not a lab fantasy. It is moving through the channels that matter.
The early products are designed as drop in replacements the size of AA and AAA cells for sensors, wearables, drones and systems that cannot afford a dead battery at the wrong moment. Space. Deep sea. Contested terrain. Places where logistics is a liability and longevity is leverage. When artificial intelligence infrastructure and electrification are screaming for resilient power, turning waste into watts starts to look less like science fiction and more like strategy.
Business takeaway? Start with a hard problem everyone avoids. Anchor yourself in national labs and federal programs that de risk the science. Build a narrative around sovereignty, not slogans. Then raise from investors who understand that energy density is destiny.
