Elementl's $750 Million Ohio Letter Covers Up to 1.5 GW

Elementl Power signed a letter of intent and term sheet on October 26, 2026 for a development partnership of up to $750 million, the company said, to fund pre-construction work on as many as three advanced nuclear projects. One of the three is a plant of up to 1.5 GW in Meigs County, Ohio. Elementl's fact sheet, revised September 1, 2026, states that planned capacity as up to 1.5 GW from five BWRX-300 reactors, each with a nameplate capacity of 300 MW.

The papers are not a power purchase, and they are not a final investment decision. A consortium led by DS Investment Partners would fund a portion of the partnership and hold a significant minority interest, Elementl said. Samsung C&T Engineering & Construction Group is participating as a potential strategic investor. The October 26 release does not name a buyer for the electricity.

The technology

The reactor is GE Vernova Hitachi's BWRX-300, a boiling-water small modular reactor. On its product page, GE Vernova Hitachi says the design is engineered to produce up to 300 MW of electricity per unit and uses a proven fuel configuration from an established supply chain. It does not say whether that output is net or gross, and it does not state an enrichment level. Elementl's fact sheet uses a nameplate of 300 MW for each of the five Ohio reactors. That nameplate is the developer's own figure, stated alongside the 1.5 GW total, not a figure derived here from the vendor's "up to 300 MW." Elementl's project page says the design relies on natural circulation and fewer mechanical components. Coolant is meant to move without the full set of pumps a conventional boiling-water plant uses. Elementl has signed an early works agreement to use the reactor at the Ohio site and has not published the price or the scope of that agreement. The vendor says the first BWRX-300 is under construction at Ontario Power Generation's Darlington site in Canada, the first of four there, with construction of the first unit estimated to finish by the end of 2029 and commercial operation by the end of 2030. Construction of that Canadian unit began in May 2025.

The deal and the money

Elementl calls the October 26 document a preliminary agreement and says it consists of a letter of intent and a term sheet. Other investors can still join. Elementl has engaged Macquarie Capital as financial adviser to evaluate that. The partnership is meant to provide a portion of the capital to take up to three projects to a final investment decision, paying for permitting, interconnection and long-lead procurement. Elementl says the papers do not constitute that decision, and closing still depends on definitive documentation, regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. The company says Samsung C&T has delivered 12 GW across 10 nuclear units, including the 5.6 GW Barakah plant in the United Arab Emirates. That history is not a contract to build Meigs County. GE Vernova Hitachi's product page records a separate October 2025 strategic alliance with Samsung C&T to deploy the BWRX-300 in markets outside North America. The Ohio papers are a possible stake in Elementl's U.S. development work, not that overseas alliance. Elementl says the Ohio plant would be privately financed and would not be paid for through electric customer rates. The power price, the offtaker and the size of the consortium's own check were not disclosed.

Licensing and timeline

The site is a property of nearly 700 acres along the Ohio River in Letart Township, about 100 miles southeast of Columbus. Elementl has an agreement to purchase it from American Municipal Power. In April 2026 it asked PJM Interconnection to study a connection for the first 600 MW of output, not for the full plant. The September 1 fact sheet says that request is in PJM's study phase, and the project page still describes the studies as unfinished. The plant needs approvals from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Ohio Power Siting Board. Elementl's project page does not describe a construction permit application as filed. A construction permit, once issued, lets the owner build. It does not let the plant run. On June 23, 2026, WTAP reported that Elementl anticipated filing a construction permit application later in 2026 and a licence application after that, and that the company could not discuss commercial arrangements. If due diligence holds, approvals arrive and Elementl makes a final investment decision, the project page says construction on the first unit could begin as early as 2030, with commercial operation targeted for 2034. The fact sheet targets completion of the first unit in 2034.

What it means for data centers

Elementl lists data centers among the customers it wants to serve. The October papers do not assign this plant's output to a campus, a utility or Google. Google's agreement with Elementl, announced on May 7, 2025, is a different instrument. Google committed early-stage development capital for three sites of at least 600 MW each, with an option for commercial offtake once those projects are complete. The release named no sites and no reactor, and Elementl said it was still evaluating technology. Neither the October 26 release nor the Ohio project page says Meigs County is one of those three sites. The option is not a power purchase agreement, and no price or term was stated. The nearest comparison already on this site is Amazon's funding of a feasibility study for a 960 MW Xe-100 plant in Indiana, as Voltgrid reported: development money before a decision to build and before a signed power contract. The BWRX-300 also appears in a non-binding British operating agreement, another case where an early paper is not a construction decision.

What to watch

Definitive documents for the $750 million partnership have no date. The next licensing step Elementl has described is an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a construction permit, and the company has not announced one. PJM still has to finish studying the first 600 MW. Construction in 2030 and commercial operation in 2034 remain targets, and both wait on a final investment decision Elementl has not made.