Standardization to Scale Nuclear

Standardization enables quality assurance, cost efficiency, and timely project completion. In the nuclear industry, standard equipment also reduces construction risk and regulatory timelines.

From our product design to daily plant operations, standardization ensures the delivery of clean, baseload electricity and heat at scale: the most vital outcome of our energy-as-a-service approach.  

Standardized Product

Our product, the PWR-20, is fully modular, meaning that every component and connection is factory-fabricated, tested under controlled conditions, and contained in standardized modules. These modules are skid-mounted and outfitted with sets of quick-assembly connectors before final shipment to site.  

By standardizing every aspect of our product design, we accelerate both the assembly of the PWR-20 and the distribution of clean power to our customers. This allows us to scale the number of   PWR-20 units to match the growth profiles of our customers, ranging from sustainable fuels manufacturers to data centers.

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Standard Components

The PWR-20 utilizes a scaled-down, one-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR)—the same reactor technology found in over 300 operating power plants around the world—combined with a thermal power plant that leverages widely-available components, removing the R&D and supply chain challenges that come with innovations in fuel, reactor physics, chemistry, or materials science.  

Leveraging standard equipment enables the rapid deployment and assembly of every PWR-20 unit. Examples of off-the-shelf equipment, sourced from a robust supply chain include:

• Steam turbine generator
• Air-cooled heat exchangers
• Canned reactor coolant pumps
• Steam generators
• Feedwater pumps
• Condensate pumps

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Standard Transportation and Building Equipment

The PWR-20's small, standardized modules and equipment allow us to use standard road transportation to deliver modules to site, as well as leverage standard construction equipment to assemble units.  

Traditionally, large-scale nuclear builds introduce major transportation and construction challenges; new infrastructure such as roads, railways, ports, and wharfs must either be developed or upgraded to accommodate the transportation of large and heavy materials for these projects.

Similarly, gigawatt-scale nuclear projects often necessitate the use of large, custom-made construction equipment, including cranes and pile drivers, for their construction. Most notably, UK power plant Hinkley Point C required the manufacturing of the world’s largest crane, which required months of fabrication and assembly, four miles of railroad to lay, and 250 trucks to transport.

By utilizing standard road transportation and construction equipment to deliver our units, we accelerate deployment timelines, reduce construction complexity and cost, and minimize environmental impact.

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Standard Fuel  

The PWR-20 uses low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel—the most widely utilized and readily available fuel in the industry, sourced from a standard fuel supply chain.  

The refueling process itself is also standardized:  after a 72-month fueling cycle, a new, fueled reactor module is inserted into a pre-build underground slot, like adding a new, fully charged battery. Each reactor module remains in place for the remaining lifetime of the power plant, thus minimizing operational complexity and human intervention.

Last Energy's PWR-20

The PWR-20 is a fully packaged product, standardized from design through operations to quickly scale nuclear. The entire plant can be delivered in 24 months with 20 months of factory-fabrication and four months on-site assembly.

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