Fermi America Positions Project Matador as Leading U.S. Nuclear Build with NRC-Ready COLA and Korean Partnerships

New updates have been reported about Fermi America.

Fermi America is moving to the forefront of U.S. nuclear development after Chief Nuclear Construction Officer Mesut Uzman used the NRC Regulatory Information Conference to highlight Project Matador as the only large light-water reactor project with a combined operating license application accepted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in more than 15 years, and the only one construction-ready. CEO Toby Neugebauer said that once U.S. authorities clear Korean investment under the new trade framework, Fermi America expects to be uniquely positioned to start nuclear construction in 2026, aligning directly with the administration’s executive orders to rebuild American nuclear leadership.

The company has secured a 99-year land lease with the Texas Tech University System near the Department of Energy’s Pantex facility and assembled a veteran construction team credited with delivering 16 reactors on time and on budget globally, underpinning execution risk. Fermi America has locked in strategic partnerships with Westinghouse, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, and Doosan Enerbility to secure long lead time nuclear components, with Hyundai committing favorable terms for AP1000 reactor delivery, and has already launched front-end engineering and design with a target to initiate 4.4 gigawatts of nuclear capacity at Project Matador on July 4. Complementing the nuclear program, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has issued a major clean air permit for 6 gigawatts of natural gas generation on the same 11-gigawatt private grid campus, creating a natural-gas-to-nuclear bridge to supply hyperscale AI, semiconductor, and advanced manufacturing loads behind the meter without burdening public ratepayers, while Fermi’s Korean partners designate Matador as a top U.S. priority, reinforcing the project’s supply chain and delivery timeline.