Steady Energy – small modular nuclear power for the global market

Western societies are electrifying rapidly, and as electricity demand grows, a functional energy system requires not only renewable energy sources but also carbon-neutral baseload power. An important source of baseload power is nuclear energy, which generates electricity steadily round the clock.

Considered a global pioneer in nuclear energy development, Finland is the only country in the world that has solved the challenge of final disposal of nuclear waste. Spent nuclear fuel is stored in Posiva-managed Onkalo at Eurajoki. The world’s first spent nuclear fuel repository, Onkalo is designed to deposit fuel deep in the bedrock – more than 400 meters underground – for thousands of years.

Steady Energy develops carbon‑neutral heat energy production using small modular reactors (SMRs). SMRs can be built more quickly and on a smaller scale than traditional large nuclear power plants. Plants can be sited, for example, near cities to replace district heat previously produced by combustion. Small reactors are modular, which makes them great for flexibly supplementing the energy needs of cities and replacing old fossil energy‑based plants. Modularity ensures that the number of reactors at a plant can be increased as demand for energy grows.

Steady Energy’s CEO, Tommi Nyman, has extensive experience in the nuclear energy sector and has worked, for example, in leadership roles in the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant construction project. Steady Energy was founded in 2023, but the idea began taking shape under Nyman’s leadership at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland already in the early 2020s.

“At that time, we were considering whether small modular nuclear energy could be a solution to the challenges of carbon-neutral and flexible energy production. We also thought the timing is right: when nuclear energy was included in the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy regulations, this significantly eased approval processes and financing, among other things. Steady Energy emerged from this VTT spin‑off, and my then-supervisor asked whether I would be interested in joining VTT’s spin‑off incubator to launch a new commercially driven nuclear energy company.”

According to Nyman, commercial small modular nuclear power has a huge global market as the green transition accelerates in developed countries and Europe strives to free itself from its dependency on natural gas. Finland has experience in expanding nuclear capacity through Olkiluoto 3 and, in addition to high-level nuclear expertise, the country naturally also has practical experience with the challenges involved in constructing large‑scale nuclear power plants.

“Right from the start, we saw that we were on to something big – here in Finland, if anywhere, we have excellent opportunities to develop commercially viable small modular nuclear power cost‑effectively. Traditional large‑unit nuclear power doesn’t really operate on market terms in almost any part of the world; it requires multi‑billion‑euro investments and public support. From the beginning, Steady has been developing small‑reactor solutions with market viability as the top priority.”

It looks like Steady Energy is among the first companies globally who are developing new commercial small modular nuclear power. Being a frontrunner is crucial, as an estimated 100 nuclear energy development projects are underway worldwide, and competition for global market dominance is intense.

The company reached a new milestone in February 2026, when construction of its pilot plant began in Salmisaari, Helsinki. The pilot plant aims to test, among other things, the functionality of the plant’s processes and supply chain. The actual reactor core does not yet contain nuclear fuel but otherwise simulates the operation of a small modular nuclear reactor.

Financing focused on the pilot plant and supply chain development

So far, Steady Energy has raised roughly EUR 50 million in funding. Financiers include well-known capital investors from the United States, as well as LocalTapiola from Finland.

Funding is needed not only for constructing the pilot plant but also for developing processes and supply chains. The aim is to build small modular nuclear reactors in the future through serial production directly for energy companies, so that the plants do not remain on Steady Energy’s balance sheet. Alternatively, Steady Energy itself can also own the plant and sell energy to power companies as a service.

“Steady Energy’s business model includes both constructing small nuclear plants as a contractor and selling heat as a service. We already have 15 reactors in our order book, and we expect the first commercial nuclear reactor to be operational in 2031. We are working with Fortum to establish operational capability for the plants.”

The Olkiluoto 3 project, which spanned several decades, cost an estimated nearly EUR 10 billion. In comparison, the agility of small modular reactors is of a completely different scale: a 50-megawatt small modular nuclear power plant is expected to cost about one-hundredth of Olkiluoto 3 – at most EUR 100 million. Construction is expected to take about three years, and a single completed plant can provide heat for a city of about 50,000 residents over its 60‑year lifecycle.

A Finnish brand for the global market

From the beginning, Steady Energy has developed solutions for international markets. The green transition offers enormous potential especially in Western countries, and rising costs combined with supply uncertainties create a pressing need for baseload power that stabilises wind and solar energy.

“In Europe alone, 80 million households are heated with district heating, much of it using fossil energy. However, we are looking beyond Europe as well and have signed a cooperation agreement with a South Korean energy company.”

Despite its international approach, Finnish roots are a core value for Steady Energy, which makes institutional anchor investors like LocalTapiola important. The company aims to strengthen its identity as a growing Finnish enterprise, as Finland’s reputation for safe nuclear expertise combined with reliable social conditions is a brand in itself. A clear, country-based ownership structure is also seen as a competitive advantage in the global market.

“From the beginning, the idea has been to develop a market-driven clean‑energy export product backed by Finnish high technology and engineering expertise. Finland is the only country in the world that has successfully managed the entire nuclear-energy supply chain from start to finish, and we have excellent conditions to expand internationally while maintaining strong domestic roots. That’s why we were very pleased to increase our level of domestic ownership with a Finnish institutional investor like LocalTapiola.”

Although small modular nuclear power can be produced for a fraction of the cost of large nuclear power plants, constructing nuclear power plants remains rather capital-intensive. Steady Energy is therefore planning a new funding round aimed at raising approximately EUR 150 million. Thanks to the contractor model, however, growth financing is not an endless sink: around EUR 150 million in additional funding is considered sufficient to make the company fully funded.

Are there bottlenecks in Finnish growth financing? Generally, Nyman calls for agility and industry understanding from capital investors.

“In many ways, we are pioneers in a new industry, and it is entirely understandable that investors’ actual sector expertise is often narrow. Over the past year, we met an estimated 100 potential financiers, and including due diligence processes, this required several months of work.”

Consequently, raising capital consumes considerable resources from CEOs in particular, and although fundraising is part of a scalable company’s core processes, it naturally diverts time from other aspects of business development.