Elementl Power Taps Navy Veteran to Execute 5 GW Nuclear Pipeline

WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 21, 2026 — The transition from speculative whitepapers to pouring nuclear-grade concrete is the most treacherous chasm in the modern energy sector. For years, the advanced nuclear industry has been long on promises and short on gigawatts. But as hyperscale technology companies demand relentless, 24/7 carbon-free power to fuel the artificial intelligence revolution, the market is forcing a rapid shift from origination to execution.

Signaling its own pivot from early-stage development to complex physical delivery, Elementl Power announced today the appointment of Robey Clark as Senior Vice President of Projects. Reporting directly to Chief Projects Officer Shawn Hughes, Clark takes the helm of a sprawling 5-gigawatt (GW) portfolio that sits squarely at the intersection of Silicon Valley's ambitions and America's heavy industrial revival.

The stakes for Clark’s tenure are immense. His mandate includes overseeing a landmark 1.8 GW strategic development arrangement with Google and a massive 1.5 GW small modular reactor (SMR) project currently advancing in southeast Ohio. As the independent developer seeks to deploy more than 10 GW by 2035, Clark's arrival—armed with deep operational experience from the U.S. Navy, Boston Consulting Group, and Kairos Power—highlights a maturing industry that realizes its greatest existential threat is no longer technology, but project management.

The Hyperscaler Mandate: Delivering Google’s 1.8 GW Vision

The artificial intelligence computing boom has fundamentally rewired energy capital markets. Tech giants are no longer satisfied with buying virtual solar credits; they are aggressively hunting for firm, dispatchable clean power. Google’s dual-track nuclear playbook perfectly encapsulates this urgency. While the search giant recently committed to a direct vendor fleet arrangement with Kairos Power, its partnership with Elementl represents a sophisticated, infrastructure-first diversification strategy.

Announced in May 2025, the Google-Elementl arrangement is not a standard Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for a completed plant. Instead, it is an early-stage capital co-development facility. Google is financing the high-risk, pre-construction lifecycle—site characterization, grid interconnection studies, and preliminary Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing—across three designated sites, each slated for at least 600 MW of capacity. In exchange, Google secures priority commercial offtake rights.

Clark’s transition to Elementl is particularly symbiotic given this arrangement. Having most recently served as Director of Strategic Initiatives at Kairos Power, Clark intimately understands the commercial structuring and regional ecosystem development required by hyperscalers. His task now is to ensure Elementl’s technology-agnostic approach translates into viable real estate and grid queue positioning.

Navigating the PJM Interconnection queue, where Elementl submitted a formal request for its initial 600 MW phase earlier this year, will be one of his most pressing hurdles. With regional transmission organizations heavily backlogged, keeping Google's 2030-2034 AI load requirements on schedule will require relentless regulatory and logistical maneuvering.

Breaking the SMR Construction Curse in Ohio

Beyond the Google framework, Clark inherits the operational reins of Elementl’s flagship 1.5 GW project in Letart Township, Meigs County, Ohio. Situated on 700 acres along the Ohio River, the site was secured through an agreement with American Municipal Power. The project is designed to host up to five GE Vernova Hitachi (GVH) BWRX-300 small modular reactors.

The choice of the BWRX-300 is a calculated operational pivot. By relying on a water-cooled, natural circulation boiling-water reactor that utilizes standard Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU), Elementl completely bypasses the commercial bottlenecks of High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) supply chains that currently paralyze Generation-IV non-light-water designs.

This risk-averse technology selection reflects the hard-learned lessons of Elementl’s executive suite. Both CEO Chris Colbert and Chief Projects Officer Shawn Hughes held senior leadership roles tied to NuScale Power’s Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP), which famously collapsed under the weight of severe cost inflation. The ghost of the CFPP looms large over the SMR sector, serving as a cautionary tale of what happens when supply chain realities detach from early cost estimates.

By integrating Clark—whose tenure as a partner at Boston Consulting Group focused heavily on oil and gas capital project cost containment and schedule delivery—Elementl is building an organizational firewall against scope creep. Delivering a multi-unit mega-project in rural Ohio requires managing thousands of specialized pipefitters, securing ultra-heavy forgings from overseas suppliers, and synchronizing state-level approvals under Ohio’s newly enacted House Bill 308, which designates nuclear as "green energy."

From the Silent Service to the Grid

Perhaps the most telling aspect of Clark’s appointment is his background in the U.S. Navy submarine force. A qualified Nuclear Engineer Officer and former instructor at Naval Reactors, Clark is part of a growing wave of military talent fueling the civilian nuclear revival.

The U.S. Naval Reactors program, famously shaped by Admiral Hyman Rickover, is renowned for its absolute procedural compliance, redundant safety reviews, and unforgiving operational rigor. For a private sector struggling to standardize nuclear construction, this military discipline is highly coveted.

"We're excited to welcome Robey to Elementl," Hughes noted in the company's announcement. "Robey's extensive background in developing energy projects and his hands-on experience operating reactors during his service in the Navy make him an outstanding addition to our team and will help drive the successful advancement of our growing pipeline."

Clark echoed this sentiment, framing the company's trajectory around execution capabilities. "Elementl is becoming the industry's choice for nuclear project development and finance, with an incredibly deep team of experts and a world-class project management organization," Clark said. "I'm pleased to be joining such a distinguished team, as we work together to deliver the company's portfolio of advanced nuclear projects."

The Independent Developer Renaissance

Elementl Power represents a structural evolution in how nuclear energy is financed and built. Historically, regulated utilities shouldered the immense balance sheet and regulatory burdens of new nuclear builds, passing the risk of multi-billion-dollar cost overruns directly to ratepayers.

Operating as a pure-play, independent power producer backed by institutional capital from Energy Impact Partners and Breakwater North, Elementl isolates that risk. The company de-risks the initial years of a project—securing land, zoning, and environmental studies—before deploying billions on vendor hardware. To navigate the federal labyrinth, the company recently brought on Mirela Gavrilas, the former Executive Director for Operations at the NRC, equipping the developer with unmatched regulatory foresight.

As Clark steps into his new role, the mandate is clear. The financial capital has been raised. The tech industry offtakers are waiting with open checkbooks. The regulatory environment is the most favorable it has been in half a century. Now, the industry must prove it can actually build. For Elementl Power, that monumental task now rests squarely in the hands of a former submariner tasked with surfacing the next generation of American energy.