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West Texas  |  Advanced Nuclear Initiative

Advanced Nuclear Energy for the Future of West Texas

TexasNexus is developing advanced nuclear infrastructure in West Texas to deliver firm, dispatchable clean power and high-temperature process heat for West Texas industrial leadership.

West Texas Advanced Nuclear Deployment
24 / 7 Firm, Dispatchable Clean Power
Multi-Use Firm Power • Process Heat • Industrial Enablement
Texas-First Built for Permian Industrial Scale
Advanced Nuclear Deployment

Nuclear Deployment + Industrial Applications

TexasNexus is focused on advancing next-generation nuclear deployment in West Texas by aligning site development, industrial applications, process heat demand, water infrastructure, workforce readiness, and long-term Texas economic leadership.

01

Advanced Nuclear Deployment

TexasNexus is developing the site, stakeholder, supply chain, and infrastructure foundation required to support next-generation reactor deployment in West Texas.

02

Industrial Power & Process Heat Applications

Advanced nuclear can provide firm power and high-temperature process heat for industrial operations, including produced water treatment, desalination, and other energy-intensive Permian Basin applications.

03

Texas Industrial & Economic Leadership

TexasNexus is building toward a durable advanced nuclear deployment model that strengthens workforce readiness, supply chain participation, industrial resilience, and long-term economic development in West Texas.

Nuclear Opportunity

A New Generation of Nuclear Technology

Advanced nuclear energy represents a fundamental departure from the large-scale light water reactors of the 20th century. Next-generation designs emphasize passive safety systems, modular construction, industrial process heat, and deployment models suited to energy-intensive industrial regions.

These are not theoretical designs. Advanced reactor developers are today completing NRC licensing processes, signing deployment agreements with utilities and industrial partners, and moving into fabrication. The technology risk profile has changed materially in the past five years.

For industrial applications in the Permian Basin, the critical attributes are firm power output, high-temperature process heat availability, scalable capacity, and safety designs that can support deployment near existing industrial operations. Advanced nuclear provides all four.

Texas, with its independent grid, its industrial base, its regulatory environment, and its tradition of energy leadership, is positioned to be the first state to demonstrate advanced nuclear industrial deployment at meaningful scale.

Firm Baseload Power

Advanced nuclear operates at high capacity factors continuously, providing the dispatchable baseload that Permian Basin industrial operations require and that no weather-dependent resource can deliver.

Passive Safety Architecture

Next-generation designs rely on physics-based passive safety systems rather than active mechanical intervention, fundamentally altering the risk profile compared to earlier reactor designs.

Industrial Process Heat

Many advanced designs produce high-temperature heat suitable for industrial processes, including water desalination, chemical processing, and other applications beyond simple electricity generation.

Modular and Scalable

Factory-fabricated modular designs enable phased deployment aligned with demand growth, reducing upfront capital concentration and allowing incremental capacity additions over time.

Carbon-Free Operations

Nuclear power produces no direct carbon emissions during operation, providing a firm clean energy foundation that complements renewable generation without depending on storage or backup capacity.

About TexasNexus

Built Around a Real Industrial Problem

TexasNexus was formed to advance the deployment of next-generation nuclear energy infrastructure in West Texas, where firm power, high-temperature process heat, industrial water management, and long-term infrastructure demand converge.

The Permian Basin is among the most productive industrial regions in the world. Yet it faces structural energy and water challenges that conventional approaches cannot solve at the required scale, reliability, or economic threshold. Advanced nuclear changes that calculus by pairing firm, dispatchable power with industrial process heat.

Our focus is practical deployment. We are developing a specific site, in a specific geography, for a specific set of advanced nuclear deployment requirements. We engage the full stakeholder ecosystem: land, regulation, water rights, offtake, workforce, supply chain, and industrial application partners.

We believe Texas has both the infrastructure heritage and the regulatory environment to lead the United States in advanced nuclear industrial deployment. TexasNexus intends to be part of making that happen.

Focus Areas

  • Advanced nuclear power generation using next-generation reactor technology
  • Site development and nuclear siting for West Texas deployment
  • Supply chain strategy, long-lead component planning, and vendor qualification for advanced nuclear deployment
  • Engagement with Texas regulatory bodies, including TANEO
  • Workforce development and deployment readiness for advanced nuclear operations in Texas
  • Industrial applications enabled by nuclear process heat, including produced water management and desalination
  • Long-term development of advanced nuclear infrastructure supporting West Texas industrial growth
Why West Texas

The Permian Basin Demands a New Kind of Energy Infrastructure

Few regions in North America concentrate more industrial energy demand, produced water volume, land availability, workforce capability, and deployment-relevant infrastructure in a single geography. The conditions that make West Texas challenging are precisely the conditions that make advanced nuclear a strategic fit.

Persistent Power Demand

Permian Basin operations require around-the-clock electricity for artificial lift, water injection, compression, processing, and other industrial loads. Intermittent generation cannot meet this profile alone.

Produced Water Realities

West Texas generates large volumes of produced water. Disposal constraints are tightening. High-temperature process heat from advanced nuclear can support industrial-scale treatment and desalination pathways.

Infrastructure Scale

Permian Basin sits at the intersection of existing transmission corridors, rail access, highway infrastructure, and proximity to industrial users across the Permian Basin. The logistics foundation exists.

Future Industrial Load Growth

The convergence of abundant land, energy corridors, industrial users, and future high-density load growth makes West Texas a compelling location for advanced nuclear-enabled infrastructure development.

Available Land and Water Rights

West Texas offers large-tract industrial sites with the land area, topography, and existing rights structures that advanced nuclear industrial development requires at meaningful scale.

Workforce and Economic Development

The Permian Basin workforce is experienced in the discipline, safety culture, and operational demands of complex industrial systems. Advanced nuclear can build directly on that foundation.

Center of Excellence

Building West Texas as a National Model

TexasNexus intends to help establish West Texas as a center of excellence for advanced nuclear industrial deployment.

The TexasNexus initiative is designed not only as an energy development effort but as a demonstration model for the integration of advanced nuclear power with industrial process heat applications, water infrastructure, and supply chain readiness. We intend for the deployment site to become a reference model that informs advanced nuclear deployment across Texas and the United States.

This includes workforce training, supply chain development, regulatory knowledge-building, and the creation of durable economic opportunity in the Permian Basin. The infrastructure we develop should outlast any single industrial cycle and serve West Texas for generations.

Initiative Focus
Workforce
Readiness &
Supply Chain

Texas Has Always Led in Energy

From conventional oil and gas to the world's largest wind fleet, Texas has consistently defined the next era of American energy. TexasNexus is working to ensure that Texas leads the advanced nuclear chapter with the same pragmatic, industrial-scale ambition that has defined its energy history.

Strategic Partners

Working with Leading Texas Stakeholders

TexasNexus is engaging with organizations that bring relevant expertise, infrastructure position, and strategic alignment in the Permian Basin and Texas advanced nuclear ecosystem.

Land & Infrastructure

Permian Basin Land and Water Rights

TexasNexus is engaging with major Permian Basin landholders and water rights holders whose regional infrastructure position is directly relevant to large-scale industrial development in West Texas.

Nuclear Technology

Advanced Reactor Deployment Strategy

TexasNexus has evaluated advanced reactor technologies capable of supporting both firm electrical generation and industrial process heat applications within the operational requirements of a West Texas deployment site.

Our deployment approach considers reactor technologies that can integrate effectively with large-scale industrial water infrastructure, long-duration industrial operations, and site-specific thermal management requirements. Reactor selection is guided by deployment readiness, operational compatibility, safety, and long-term infrastructure integration.

Future Collaborators

Expanding Stakeholder Ecosystem

The TexasNexus initiative is designed to accommodate collaboration with utilities, engineering and construction firms, advanced nuclear vendors, water technology companies, industrial offtakers, workforce institutions, and public-sector partners as the initiative advances. We are actively engaging across these categories.

Texas Initiative

State and Regulatory Engagement

TexasNexus is actively engaging with the Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office (TANEO), state economic development bodies, and regional stakeholders to ensure alignment with Texas priorities in advanced nuclear industrial deployment.

TexasNexus engages with industry stakeholders and potential collaborators in the normal course of business development. References to organizations on this page reflect strategic relevance and active engagement. They do not imply executed partnerships, binding commitments, or formal agreements unless expressly stated.

Leadership

The TexasNexus Team

TexasNexus is led by professionals with experience across advanced nuclear deployment, strategic partnerships, industrial development, supply chain strategy, and initiative building in complex energy and technology environments.

Strategic Nuclear Advisor

Rusty Towell

Strategic Nuclear Advisor

Rusty Towell advises TexasNexus on advanced nuclear deployment strategy, reactor ecosystem alignment, research partnerships, workforce development, and commercialization readiness for Texas-based nuclear infrastructure.

Rusty is Director of the Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing (NEXT) Lab at Abilene Christian University, one of the most important advanced nuclear research and demonstration ecosystems in Texas. Through NEXT Lab, he has helped advance collaborations among academia, reactor developers, government stakeholders, and industry participants focused on next-generation nuclear technology and deployment readiness.

His advisory role helps TexasNexus connect site development, reactor technology evaluation, industrial applications, and long-term Texas nuclear commercialization strategy into a practical framework for advanced nuclear deployment in West Texas.

Role Focus
Advanced
Nuclear
Deployment
TW
Tad Wiginton
Principal, Project Development

Tad Wiginton brings extensive experience in strategic deal-making, infrastructure development, and building initiatives from the ground up in complex industrial and energy environments. His work spans commercial development, client partnerships, and the structuring of large-scale projects requiring multi-stakeholder alignment. Tad's grounding in Texas infrastructure and energy realities shapes TexasNexus's practical development approach.

TC
Tom Cherryhomes
Chairman

Tom Cherryhomes brings thirty years of experience at the intersection of technology, supply chain, and strategic partnership development. His career spans technology-driven supply chains across manufacturing, robotics, and AI, with deep operational experience on both the customer and service provider sides of complex global logistics: factory allocation, bill of materials management, long-lead and short-lead component planning, and the strategic calculus of nearshoring versus offshoring. He has worked extensively in Southeast Asia understanding how supply chains function at the ground level, from shipping and factory operations to vendor qualification and capacity development. As Chairman, Tom provides strategic oversight and partner leadership, bringing the discipline of large-scale technology deployment to the governance and long-term direction of the TexasNexus platform.

Advisory Board
SW
Gov't
Sean Walsh
Advisory Board Member
Principal, Wilson Walsh Former White House Staff, Presidents Reagan & Bush

Sean Walsh brings more than 30 years of senior experience in federal and state government, policy, regulatory strategy, and communications. He served on the White House staff of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and has since advised governors, national corporations, and multi-national clients navigating complex intersections of regulation, policy, and public affairs. A principal at Wilson Walsh, Sean works across regulatory challenges, political strategy, media and communications, and government relations at the federal and state level. He serves on the Statewide Leadership Council for the Public Policy Institute of California and the advisory board of the World Affairs Councils of America. Sean brings to TexasNexus deep federal government fluency and the kind of cross-jurisdictional regulatory and political expertise that a large-scale advanced nuclear initiative requires.

JE
Nuclear
Jackson Edgar
Advisory Board Member
Researcher, Los Alamos National Laboratory PhD Candidate, Nuclear Engineering, UT Austin

Jackson Edgar brings active nuclear research expertise from Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the United States' premier nuclear science and engineering institutions, combined with advanced academic work in nuclear engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. His involvement with TexasNexus reflects the initiative's commitment to grounding its development strategy in serious technical expertise and the leading edge of American nuclear science.

EC
Gov't
Ernie C'deBaca
Advisory Board Member
President & CEO, Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce Former VP Governmental Affairs, PNM Resources

Ernie C'deBaca brings more than four decades of leadership experience at the intersection of energy, government affairs, and regional economic development. He previously served as Vice President of Governmental Affairs for PNM Resources, where he led legislative, regulatory, and public policy engagement across multiple jurisdictions, including extensive work with policymakers and stakeholders in Texas and throughout the Southwest. Ernie currently serves as President and CEO of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, where he advances business growth, entrepreneurship, and cross-sector collaboration across New Mexico and the broader region. At TexasNexus, Ernie provides strategic guidance on government relations, stakeholder engagement, regional partnerships, and the policy frameworks necessary to support large-scale infrastructure, energy, and economic development initiatives.

BE
Texas Land
Brad Edgar, Ph.D.
Advisory Board Member
CEO, Red Fox Resources Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley

Brad Edgar was born and raised in Midland, Texas and holds land in the Permian Basin, giving him a firsthand stake in the region's energy and resource future. A PhD mechanical engineer from UC Berkeley, Brad has built a career as an inventor, technology developer, and entrepreneur focused on combustion, engines, and emissions. He is the CEO of Red Fox Resources and the inventor or co-inventor on 11 United States Patents. In 2011 he received the Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award from the California Air Resources Board, and he currently serves on the UC Berkeley Mechanical Engineering Department Advisory Board. Brad brings to TexasNexus deep Permian Basin roots, serious engineering credentials, and the perspective of a landowner with a long-term interest in how West Texas develops.

DB
Texas Land / Site Development
Dan Byerly
Advisory Board Member
Real Estate Broker, Ekdahl Real Estate West Texas Land & Site Strategy Former Capital Farm Credit / Hamlin National Bank

Dan Byerly is with Ekdahl Real Estate, specializing in West Texas land and site development, and brings deep regional experience in land transactions, large-acreage properties, rural markets, commercial banking, agricultural credit, and site-level development considerations across West Texas.

Dan has more than 28 years of combined experience across real estate, banking, credit analysis, loan servicing, and relationship management. His background includes senior roles at Hamlin National Bank and Capital Farm Credit, giving him practical fluency in landowner relationships, rural financing, property diligence, and the commercial realities of assembling sites for long-term infrastructure development.

For TexasNexus, Dan provides advisory perspective on West Texas land strategy, site identification, landowner engagement, transaction practicality, due diligence, and local-market dynamics relevant to advanced nuclear infrastructure development. His experience with major West Texas land opportunities, including Lanceum-related site activity, strengthens TexasNexus’s ability to evaluate deployment sites with local credibility and practical execution discipline.

Contact

Get in Touch

We welcome inquiries from regulators, potential partners, landowners, industrial stakeholders, workforce and supply chain participants, and investors with an interest in advanced nuclear deployment in Texas.

TexasNexus

TexasNexus is an advanced nuclear deployment initiative focused on West Texas. We are in active development and engage with qualified stakeholders on a confidential basis.

Initiative Permian Basin Advanced Nuclear Deployment Initiative
Location West Texas, USA
Email info@texasnexus.co

Send your inquiry directly to

info@texasnexus.co

We welcome inquiries from regulators, potential partners, landowners, industrial stakeholders, workforce and supply chain participants, and investors. All correspondence is handled confidentially.

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