Rockville, Md.-based X-Energy, which has ambitions to build a vast nuclear fleet, signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MOU) this week with Japanese engineering company IHI Corporation to explore collaboration on X-Energy’s small modular reactor (SMR) technology.
The MOU is a part of the deals to come out of the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum, which is centered around expanding the United States and Japan’s supply chain development. The event took place from March 14 to 15 in Tokyo. The Department of Interior announced deals totaling $56 billion during the forum.
The partnership aims to grow X-Energy’s supplier base for critical and long-term components as the company beefs up its supply chain to satisfy the needs of its 144-unit orderbook, according to a Monday press release. The commercial reactor units are equivalent to the 11,000 megawatts X-Energy said it will develop across its partnerships in the United States and United Kingdom.
No contract value was provided in the release.
X-Energy’s Xe-100 SMR is a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that produces 80 megawatts of electricity. The reactor is designed to operate as a four-pack power plant that generates 320 megawatts.
X-Energy’s agreement with IHI adds to its existing commercial supplier deals, X-Energy said. IHI has manufacturing experience working with critical components of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors.
“Deploying new nuclear at scale requires capacity and expertise that extends beyond any single supplier, and a global coalition of allied partners committed to driving the work forward,” X-Energy Chief Commercial Officer Dinkar Bhatia said.
X-Energy’s planned 11,000 megawatts of new nuclear generation includes construction of a Xe-100 SMR plant in Seadrift, Texas with Dow. The construction permit application is being challenged by a local Texas environmental group.
Additionally, X-Energy, Energy Northwest and Amazon agreed in 2024 to work together to deploy Xe-100s in Washington state. Energy Northwest’s site would have four initial Xe-100s but could be increased to 12, X-Energy said. The company expects to have at least 5,000 megawatts deployed with Amazon by 2039.
In the United Kingdom, X-Energy announced plans in September 2025 with Centrica to bring up to 6,000 megawatts in generation for a planned fleet at Eléctricité de France (EDF) and Centrica’s Hartlepool nuclear power plant site in Hartlepool, England.