Apollo Atomics, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spinoff building the next generation of pressurised water reactors (PWRs), announced $31m (€26.5m) in seed financing to commercialise a nuclear platform designed to be manufactured at scale rather than constructed as a one-off megaproject.

The company, which is backed by Y Combinator, a US startup accelerator that gives early-stage companies seed funding and advice, will use the capital to expand demonstration and long-duration reliability testing, build manufacturing capacity and advance its regulatory work with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.