A project to bring a $232 million reactor assembly plant to Gadsden is currently on hold, according to the city.

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. back in October filed to seek a Chapter 11 bankruptcy sale. Ultra Safe announced back in June 2023 that it would build a $232 million assembly plant in Gadsden.

According to the company, the proceedings would allow the company to maintain “full operational continuity across its projects, including the deployment of its Micro Modular Reactor systems in the U.S., Canada…and the fulfillment of space and defense projects for multiple U.S. government agencies.”

According to a statement from the City of Gadsden, the project is “currently on hold while court proceedings for Ultra Safe are underway.”

“We’ve committed to this project, and we’ll continue to work to bring this industry and these jobs to Gadsden,” the statement reads.

Ultra Safe announced in June 2023 that it would build a $232 million assembly plant in Gadsden.

The bankruptcy filing followed the death in May of the company’s most significant investor, Richard Hollis Helms, a former officer of the Central Intelligence Agency, according to the Telegraph.

Helms and his family had invested about $100 million in the venture and provided another $25 million in loans.

The company had anticipated the facility would be operational by 2027.

A micro-modular reactor, or MMR, is a nuclear energy system that delivers electricity. Termed a “fission battery,” the reactors don’t use water, require an electrical grid or infrastructure support and can be used in virtually any climate, according to the company.

City and company officials at the time stressed that the plant, which would manufacture about 10 non-radiological modules a year, would neither store nor use radioactive material at the plant.

Once completed, the modules would be shipped by truck to construction sites, where radioactive materials would be added to the reactors there.