Advanced-reactor developer X-energy will move its headquarters to Gaithersburg and open a new test-and-training center in Frederick, promising 525 new jobs and cementing Maryland’s bid to lead the next wave of clean-energy manufacturing. However, skepticism around small modular reactor (SMR) economics, waste output, and licensing timelines has drawn sharp criticism from analysts and environmental groups.
The Rockville-based company will consolidate operations into a 125,000-square-foot headquarters at 9801 Washingtonian Blvd. and buy a 90,000-square-foot building on McKinney Circle for non-nuclear component testing and full-scale control-room simulation. All 260 current employees will relocate, and hiring will ramp up over six years. Governor Wes Moore called the move “an investment in our state’s vital energy and sustainability sector,” noting $2.35 million in conditional state loans plus county incentives worth up to $650,000.
The announcement dovetails with Moore’s “Make Maryland More Competitive” agenda, which channels Strategic Energy Investment Fund dollars toward climate-tech employers and funnels grants through the Build Our Future program to scale innovation infrastructure. In June, the state awarded $6.95 million to ten projects ranging from life-sciences wet labs to AI robotics, underscoring a push to anchor high-growth sectors in the I-270 corridor. Local officials argue that X-energy’s six-figure payroll will reinforce the region’s advanced-manufacturing cluster and complement offshore-wind and battery-storage investments already in Moore’s clean-energy pipeline.
“X-energy was founded in Maryland, and we are proud to call this state our home as we enter a period of unprecedented growth,” said X-energy Chief Executive Officer J. Clay Sell. “We look forward to working with Governor Moore and his team to build on the state’s long history of nuclear innovation by making Maryland a national leader in next-generation nuclear technology.”
Controversy About Small Modular Reactors
Yet the company’s rapid rise has not been without controversy. Last autumn X-energy scrapped a planned $1.8 billion SPAC merger with Ares Acquisition, citing “challenging market conditions”—a retreat some analysts read as evidence of investor jitters around first-of-a-kind reactors. Progress on its $300 million proprietary TRISO-X fuel-fabrication plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, has also slipped two years, with production now pegged for 2027.
Community opposition has surfaced, too. Environmental groups along the Columbia River warn that the company’s joint venture with Amazon and Energy Northwest could burden the Pacific Northwest with new nuclear waste and seismic risks. Similar concerns were voiced in 2021 over siting small modular reactors (SMR) on Hanford Reservation land, historically tied to weapons-grade plutonium production.
Industry watchers point out that X-energy’s federal cost-share award under the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program tops $1.2 billion, raising questions about whether private capital can keep pace with ambitious construction timelines. Still, CEO J. Clay Sell insists the Maryland expansion positions the firm to “enter a period of unprecedented growth” by tapping the state’s deep bench of nuclear engineers and data-center clients.
If the company meets its hiring targets, X-energy would become one of Montgomery County’s largest cleantech employers, delivering salaries that average $105,000, according to county estimates. Whether those jobs materialize on schedule may hinge on resolving financing gaps, regulatory hurdles at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and public skepticism that has dogged the SMR sector nationwide. For Maryland, however, the announcement marks another marquee win in its race to anchor next-generation energy manufacturing—and a high-profile test of the state’s ability to balance economic ambition with environmental caution.
