About Epithermal

A Team That Has Built Real Reactors.

Career reactor and space-nuclear engineers from DOE national labs, DoW, and NASA: the brains behind real national reactor programs.

Who We Are

Next-Gen Reactor Engineering, in One Shop

Epithermal Power LLC is a minority-owned small business in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Our team brings backgrounds from DOE (LANL, SNL, INL), DoW (DARPA, U.S. Army), and NASA: a deep bench in cutting-edge nuclear engineering, serving government agencies and private companies alike.

Why Us

We're Not Reactor Tourists

Micro- and space-reactors are our craft, not a trend

  • Real reactors : designed and built for the nation, not slideware
  • Deep, not broad : years inside the actual U.S. micro- and space-reactor programs
  • In the room : when the government needs a reactor designed, our people are at the table
9+
Reactor Designs in Portfolio
5+
Government Reference Designs Built for the U.S.
100+ yrs
Combined Space-Nuclear Power & Propulsion Experience
Team

A Small Team of National-Lab Heavyweights

Our principals led reactor design, multiphysics, and test at the top U.S. national labs and on NASA and DoW programs. We keep names off the public site out of respect for the sensitivity of the programs and people involved, and share full bios directly under NDA.

Founder & Principal Engineer

Reactor Design & Computational Physics, Ph.D.

Reactor designer and computational physicist with 9+ years across DOE national labs and current space-nuclear propulsion experience. Inventor of the multiphysics framework behind CRISP, and an active clearance holder.

Selected Work

  • Lead engineer on a critical reactor experiment: design, optimization, multiphysics, safety & integration
  • Authored U.S. government reference designs for space surface power and nuclear electric propulsion
  • Invented the reactor-multiphysics framework that became CRISP
  • Criticality-safety analysis that authorized a new fuel-fabrication facility

Co-Founder & Chief Test Engineer

Space-Nuclear Power & Propulsion, M.Sc.

25+ years in space-nuclear power and propulsion across NASA and DOE national labs. The hands behind the test hardware for the first new U.S. fission reactor taken to full power in four decades.

Selected Work

  • Test hardware that took a space reactor critical and to 28 hours at full power
  • Core & test hardware as a subject-matter expert on a NASA fission surface-power program
  • Lead for reactor & core components on a NASA space nuclear-propulsion program

Co-Founder & Chief Scientist

Reactor Physics & Space-Nuclear Systems, Ph.D.

40+ years in reactor physics, nuclear systems, and space-nuclear power and propulsion across the U.S. national laboratories. A recognized technical leader who has shaped national reactor and space-power programs and built the teams now delivering them.

Selected Work

  • Four decades of leadership across U.S. national-laboratory reactor and space-power programs
  • Senior technical authority in reactor physics, criticality safety, and nuclear data
  • Guided design & review of advanced micro-, space-, and propulsion-reactor concepts
  • Mentored multiple generations of the nation's reactor engineers
Megawatt-class space reactor
Track Record

We've Already Done the Hard Part.

Critical experiments, criticality-safety analysis that authorized a fuel-fabrication facility, space-reactor test hardware, and the government's reference designs, delivered across DOE, NNSA, DoW, DARPA, and NASA.

Selected Work

From Design to Criticality

NASA · DOE

First U.S. Space Reactor to Full Power in 40+ Years

Designed the test hardware that took a space reactor to criticality and 28 hours of full-power operation, the first new U.S. fission reactor built and tested in four decades.

DOE · DoW

Critical Reactor Experiment, Lead Engineer

Led a high-priority experiment end to end: design, optimization, multiphysics, material down-selection, safety, and full systems integration.

NNSA

Fuel-Fabrication Facility Authorized

Criticality-safety analysis that enabled successful authorization of a new fuels-fabrication facility at a DOE/NNSA complex.

NASA · DOE

Space Power & Propulsion Reference Designs

Authored U.S. government reference designs for space surface power and nuclear electric propulsion, the designs peer programs are measured against.

DOE

Accelerated Fuel Qualification

Reactor-engineering lead on a multi-million-dollar effort to accelerate metallic-fuel qualification.

DARPA · NASA

Cislunar Propulsion Demonstration

Supporting a cislunar nuclear-propulsion demonstration with software integration, nuclear testing, and launch safety.

Let's Build the Reactors That Power Earth and Space.

Partner with a team that has taken reactors from design to criticality.