Nearly a decade ago, third-generation Texas oilman Doug Robison was planning to retire and sell his petroleum company when a trip to his children’s alma mater, Abilene Christian University, changed his career path – on an atomic level.
He heard a short talk from Rusty Towell, head of the school’s Nuclear Energy Experimental Testing Lab (NEXT), about the potential of next-generation molten salt nuclear reactors to provide affordable energy to lift much of the world out of poverty. Robison was sold. “I met him in the back of the room and said, ‘What would you do if you had full funding?’ I asked him three times and he wasn’t ready for the question.” Two weeks later, Towell offered Robison a rough plan. “I said, ‘You’re funded. Let’s go.’
Robison’s $3.2 million research gift provided impetus for the effort and spreading the word. Then-U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry — and the former governor of Texas — sent a team to Abilene to investigate the research. In 2019, the Energy Department offered fuel and salt to support the project if it agreed to build a test reactor. ACU volunteered to host.
“I held my hand up in the room and said, ‘I’m going to fund it,'” Robison said. ACU President Phil Schubert took Robison aside and asked, “Do you have any ideas about how we’re going to do this?” Robison replied. “Phil, I have no idea.”
A few months later, Natura Resources was founded as a next-generation nuclear startup with the goal of building smaller reactors using new technologies for cooling and other functions. Robison took the defunct shell of an organic farming company he founded in the 1980s – Natura – and turned it into a startup, even though it’s technically over 40 years old. “It’s a transition from organic farming to advanced nuclear power,” Robison said Assets laughing, adding that both are still clean energy.
Since then, Natura has grown, as has its university alliance – more than 150 researchers from ACU, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
They plan to have the first reactor, MSR-1, operational in Abilene in 2028. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the construction permit in 2024. By 2032, a 100-megawatt commercial reactor is planned for the Permian Basin in West Texas or near Texas A&M in Bryan.
Natura joined the Trump administration’s ambitious nuclear reactor pilot program, initially involving 10 companies, to reach criticality in at least three test reactors by July 4 – the same day the government ends subsidies for wind and solar projects.
Natura isn’t one of the three to achieve that goal this weekend, but that hardly matters.
Leader of the pack
Natura is focused on getting its test reactor fully operational by 2028 – although 2026 was an early target – and building a supply chain to scale commercially in the 2030s. Late last year, Natura purchased advanced nuclear development company Shepherd Power in partnership with energy technology and manufacturing company NOV November included.
“The main thing we want to do is prove that we can actually build a reactor system,” said Jordan Robison, Natura’s chief operating officer, who is also Doug’s nephew. “There is a difference between a criticality test and building a complete reactor system.”
Reaching criticality is the milestone when a nuclear reactor undergoes its first chain reaction. It is an important milestone, but the reactor is not in continuous operation and does not produce electricity. An operating reactor produces electricity safely over a long period of time.
In fact, none of the supposed leaders of the next generation nuclear race reached critical points in Trump’s pilot program. In addition to Natura, Google partner Kairos Power, Bill Gates-backed TerraPower, Sam Altman-backed Oklo and Amazon-backed X-Energy also focus on building nuclear reactors for grid power and utility-scale hyperscalers. And Natura needs to attract more external funding to grow as well.
The three that announced critical successes by July 4 are all focused on smaller microreactors to power industrial or military bases, and not initially on utility-scale power. These are Antares Nuclear’s Mark 0 reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, Valar Atomics’ Ward 250 at the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab, and Deployable Energy’s Unity reactor, also at the Idaho National Lab.
All of the companies mentioned above are developing next-generation nuclear technology for small modular reactors (SMR) or even smaller microreactors. So-called Gen IV reactors are based on non-water coolants – conventional nuclear power plants use light water reactors – such as liquid metals, molten salts or high-pressure gases. They are designed for inherent safety in reactors that cannot physically melt, even in the event of a power outage.
But speed is critical, especially given the burgeoning boom of AI data centers and their hunger for more power. The Trump administration is already in the process of simplifying and streamlining the regulatory processes for SMRs. That’s why Natura already has plans to build its commercial reactors with Teledyne Brown Engineering in Alabama and for on-site design and construction led by Zachry Nuclear, Doug Robison said. Speed and scale are important.
Unlike traditional reactors that use high-pressure water, molten salt reactors dissolve nuclear fuel directly in a liquid salt mixture. The molten salt serves both as a coolant and as a fuel carrier. No high pressures are required, and if something goes wrong, the nuclear fuel remains trapped in the salt. “It’s radioactive, but it’s contained,” Doug Robison said. “I think molten salt reactors are the most meaningful solution.”
“Our reactor is in the middle of Abilene, right across from a dormitory,” he added. “The reason we can do this is because we don’t work under pressure. We never lose control.”
Oil and gas roots
Next comes the process of proving the feasibility of the reactors to investors, hyperscalers and utilities. There is a lot of noise and Natura needs to separate itself from the crowd, Robison said.
“There are probably close to 100 projects now because there is so much money floating around,” he said. “With data centers and AI, people are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars. That’s going to attract a lot.
“I’m from the oil and gas industry. I’ve never seen one [blueprint] Drawing of an oil rig. You either have a rig or you don’t,” he continued. “If you don’t have a rig, you don’t drill, so there’s no production. There’s nothing to talk about.”
That will change when the Abilene test reactor comes online, he said. Currently, only a small handful of companies are actually building next-generation reactors.
“We believe our LCOE will be competitive with natural gas, meaning we can add electricity to the grid at a market-competitive cost, without subsidies and regulations,” Robison said.
Now Natura has to prove it. “We need to reduce the risk to the point where the financial industry says, ‘Now we believe it.’ When they did it with oil in the Permian, when the money came on the table, everything changed. Steel mills opened. Fracking mines were opened to extract sand. An industry emerged and we made the country energy independent. That’s exactly what we’re doing now.”
But Natura doesn’t stop at electricity.
Robison is considering the Permian Basin in West Texas as the first potential site for a commercial reactor because, in addition to increasing demand for electricity, the Permian Basin has a growing problem with handling the chemically contaminated water produced by oil and gas production.
The heat generated by the reactors could be used to desalinate water, Robison argued. Natura already works with NGL Energy Partners, which has a large water solutions business.
At least a quarter of the world’s population does not have access to clean drinking water, he said, but Natura will start in Texas.
“We can generate clean electricity. And we’re solving the air emissions problem in the Permian Basin. We’re starting to solve the water problem and returning usable water to Texas’ inventory,” Robison said. “Check, check, check.”