Kalev Kallemets, Fermi Energia

Welcome back for another exciting episode of Gener8 as we dive into some aspects of the European energy picture by meeting with Kalev Kallemets, CEO of Fermi Energia. Fermi Energia was founded in 2019 by Kalev and several colleagues with the express goal to deploy advanced small modular nuclear technology in Estonia and recently announced technology selection with General Electric-Hitachi (press release linked here).

Our conversation with Kalev began with painting a picture of the current electricity and energy landscape in Eastern Europe, following Russian aggressive wartime activities, as well as the role of cost, reliability, and numerous other factors in affecting the energy picture. As a nation that shares a border with Russia, Estonia faces unique energy concerns that have been thrown completely out of balance in the last 12-18 months on the international stage and Kalev helped share his on-the-ground impressions. Subsequently, we explored the role of nuclear energy in these discussions as well as the origins of Fermi Energia and Kalev’s role therein. Kalev also offered his perspective around how to assess promises and assumptions in a nuclear industry that has both a damaged track record and a lack of comparables, what happens next for the project in Estonia, how to collaborate with neighbors across state boundaries, and what remaining obstacles and barriers remain between now and final project deployment.

We found this conversation gave a very detailed look at the unique energy challenges of nations in Eastern Europe and how nuclear energy plays a role in those discussions. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did.