Why DE USA / Australia
An introduction to Unity and possible Australian uses if the required laws changed, the technology was demonstrated and all relevant approvals were obtained.
The expanded DEFL briefing
The expanded film explains why DEFL proposes to invest in DE USA, Unity’s six key design priorities and potential uses at mines, communities, data centres, defence facilities and recovery or logistics hubs.
Expanded briefing. The complete 6-minute-40-second film, with English captions.
The recording could not load. You can still read the narration and explore potential applications.
Illustrative applications
These scenarios are questions for future site-specific assessment.
A future project could assess modular generation alongside its existing diesel, grid, renewable and storage arrangements. The assessment would need to cover the entire operating life of both the energy system and the mine.
Key questions: load profile, mine life, delivery and maintenance logistics, outages, fuel services and closure obligations.
A community could examine whether a suitably scaled system could support electricity, water treatment, communications and other essential services. Community and Traditional Owner engagement, affordability and local operating arrangements would be central.
Key questions: community priorities, system size, alternative technologies, dependable operation and emergency arrangements.
A future facility could assess modular nuclear generation as one part of an engineered electricity system.
Key questions: actual demand, redundancy, siting, connection requirements and independently supported whole-of-life costs.
A site could examine the resilience of different power options against its own operating and security requirements.
Key questions: the applicable legal regime, security, procurement, operating responsibilities and a site-specific safety case.
A pre-planned recovery or logistics site could assess whether a licensed power system had a role in its resilience strategy.
Key questions: advance siting and approvals, transport and security arrangements, trained operators and the practical alternatives.
From possibility to project
The steps any Australian project would need to complete.
Section 140A of the EPBC Act prevents the Minister from approving construction or operation of a nuclear power plant; its naval nuclear-propulsion exception is specific to conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines. EPBC Act, section 140A.
ARPANSA's current framework also prohibits licensing the listed nuclear-power facilities within its jurisdiction, and state restrictions can apply separately, including NSW's prohibitions on constructing or operating nuclear facilities. ARPANSA licensing guidance; NSW Act, sections 8 and 9.
The NRC currently records pre-application work for Unity. NRC project status.
Lloyd's Register describes its maritime work as an early-maturity assessment with further verification and development recommendations. LR case study, 6 July 2026.
ASNO's nuclear permit framework addresses safeguards, inventory accounting, security, reporting and inspection access. ASNO permit requirements.
A project assessment should establish responsibility and funding for transport, operations, spent fuel, waste and decommissioning.
A credible proposal should identify a willing customer, suitable land, community engagement, capable operating partners, funding and a whole-of-life comparison with the available alternatives.
Legal overview current at 15 October 2026.
Transcript and evidence
This transcript matches the expanded recording. Source notes and the closing notices are not narrated.
Why is DEFL seeking to invest in Deployable Energy in the United States? The attraction is a combination of technology and business design: compact nuclear energy, manufactured as a repeatable product, delivered where customers need it, and supported through a long-term service relationship.
Despite its name, Unity is a nuclear microreactor, not a battery that stores electricity. Deployable Energy in the United States is developing a modular design targeting about 1 megawatt of electrical output per unit.
First, factory manufacture. Unity is designed around standard modules, familiar nuclear-grade materials and established manufacturing processes. Repeating the same design can improve quality, simplify procurement and reduce costs as production grows. The core and shielding travel in a standard twenty-foot container, with separate power-conversion equipment. The idea is to install a manufactured system, rather than build a conventional large nuclear plant from the ground up.
Second, established fuel. Unity uses uranium dioxide enriched to four point nine five per cent. This connects it to the existing commercial fuel industry, rather than making it dependent on higher-enrichment fuel or a new specialised manufacturing process. The aim is lower cost and simpler supply. The innovation is a compact reactor built around a familiar, widely used fuel.
Third, managed fuel replacement. The planned service model puts fuel supply and replacement with Deployable Energy, on an approximately five-year cycle. A replacement unit arrives and the used unit returns to a central facility. This is intended to avoid on-site refuelling and separate stores of fresh or spent fuel at the customer's premises. The commercial plan includes centralised refuelling and recycling, with the detailed recycling arrangements still to be confirmed.
Fourth, safety by design. Unity gives water and helium different jobs. Water slows neutrons to sustain the reaction, while helium carries heat away. Helium is inert: it does not burn or chemically generate hydrogen. This is a specific advantage of the coolant, alongside the design's inherent safety features and engineered barriers. The objective is protection built into the system, rather than relying only on operator action.
Fifth, on-site power. Unity is designed for remote and behind-the-meter operation, including sites without a national-grid connection. A customer could generate electricity beside its own operations, avoiding a new long-distance transmission connection. Local switchboards, cables, controls and supporting equipment still connect the plant to the customer. Several modules could work together to match the site's demand.
Sixth, electricity, heating and cooling. A reactor produces heat first. Unity's design targets about one megawatt of electricity, with around one and a half megawatts of recoverable heat for useful work. That heat could provide hot water or steam for washing, drying and industrial processes. A heat exchanger transfers energy between separate circuits, without mixing the reactor's fluid with the customer's water.
Heat can also make cold. An absorption chiller uses heat to drive refrigeration and produce chilled water for data centres, cold stores and air conditioning. Think of a gas-powered caravan fridge, at industrial scale. The chiller and pipework are additional equipment matched to the site. Electricity, useful heat and cooling together are called tri-generation: more useful work from the same fuel.
These capabilities connect directly with familiar Australian energy needs.
If the technology and legal pathway were established, a remote mine could compare modular generation with its existing energy arrangements.
An outback community could assess power for essential services with community priorities at the centre.
A data centre could examine firm generation alongside its backup and cooling systems.
A defence facility could consider resilience and security.
A recovery or logistics hub could assess a pre-planned, licensed installation.
On 30 June, 2026, Unity achieved a zero-power criticality demonstration at Idaho National Laboratory.
The next stage is integrated power generation. A full-power demonstration at Idaho National Laboratory is planned for twenty twenty-seven. In October twenty twenty-six, Deployable Energy announced Sargent and Lundy's appointment for engineering and licensing support, advancing preparations for a construction permit application.
For DEFL, the opportunity is the combination: repeatable equipment sales, long-term fuel and operating services, and customers who need more than electricity alone. The proposed investment is exposure to the company developing this platform for international markets. Future Australian applications could expand that opportunity, but the investment case does not depend on Australia first changing its nuclear policy.
Eligible investors would acquire shares in DEFL. DEFL would purchase the SAFE agreement rather than acquire DE USA shares at that point.
For the full investment structure, terms and risks, read the current Information Memorandum and the supporting material on the DEFL website.
Design and development evidence: DE technology overview; DE presentation to the NRC, 14 September 2026; NRC project record; DOE criticality experiment scope.
Heating and cooling: DOE absorption-chiller fact sheet. Read the Commercial Briefing and heating-and-cooling explainer with the current IM.
Progress: DE DOME announcement, 7 October 2026; DE engineering and licensing announcement, 14 October 2026. See the dated development record.
Australian illustrations are potential uses, not announced sites. See the legal and project pathway above. DEFL’s proposed investment is in the US developer through a SAFE; the IM governs the investment structure and risks.
The following closing slide is not narrated. It remains visible for 10 seconds; pause the recording or read the text here at your own pace.
Wholesale clients only under section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). General information only; it does not take account of your objectives, financial situation or needs. Not personal financial advice, an offer or a recommendation to invest. Read the current IM and obtain independent professional advice.
Illustrative settings are not operating Unity installations or announced Australian projects. Design targets, future uses and outcomes are uncertain and subject to testing, approvals and legal requirements. Actual results may differ materially. No outcome is assured.
This is not a Chapter 6D disclosure document or a Part 7.9 PDS. Any offer would be made only to wholesale clients under applicable exemptions and definitive transaction documents.
Deployable Energy Fund Limited: ACN 701 609 387. Financial services are provided by Deployable Energy Funds Management Pty Ltd (ACN 701 592 350 | ABN 38 701 592 350), a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR No. 1322961) of Deployable Energy AFSL Pty Ltd (ACN 122 284 888), AFSL No. 478547.
Company and Fund
A future role for DE USA could involve its technology and appropriately authorised Australian project and operating partners.
DEFL invests in DE USA; it does not hold Australian deployment rights or operate reactors, and the investment case does not depend on Australian legislative change. The investment structure and investor rights are described in the current IM.
Continue reading