Last Energy Gets $19 Billion in Contracts for Simple 20 MW Nuclear Fission Reactors

Last Energy is a startup working to make low-cost small pressure water reactors (20 MW) with simple off the shelf parts. They are designing to keep things simple, use as much off the shelf parts as possible and to use workers with existing training and skills.

The demonstration model project showcases Last Energy’s standard, modular building approach to quickly scale nuclear energy.

Last Energy is a new nuclear energy solution for customers of any size – rapidly deploying fast, affordable, clean baseload power at scale through a full-service delivery model.

It is air-cooled. It does not have to be put near water.

They will make distributed small base load power plants using modular design and construction.

Bret Kugelmass and Last Energy aim to build their first ten inexpensive, off-the-shelf fission reactors in eastern Europe. Kugelmass is working with federal agencies to get export permissions for Last’s nuclear technology. They are not yet asking for approval to build his plants in the U.S. They want the first 20-megawatt reactor (enough to power 20,000 homes) up and running by 2025 in Poland, which has been getting 70% of its power from burning coal since Russian natural gas supplies were cut off. Poland has agreed to buy the electricity from 10 of the units, which Kugelmass hopes to make for $100 million each, under a long-term contract that requires Last Energy to operate the reactors and take on the risk of cost overruns.

Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.

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