Last Energy Boasts $19 Billion in European Small Nuclear Reactor Deals

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Business groups in the U.K. and Poland are gearing up for a major push into small nuclear reactor (SMRs) technology as U.S. start-up Last Energy (Washington) announced that it has signed deals worth almost US$19 billion for 34 of its SMRs.

The company said that it has secured power purchase agreements (PPAs) for 34 of its PWR-20 reactors--each with a generating capacity of 20 megawatts (MW). Ten will be taken by Katowice Special Economic Zone (KSSE), a special economic zone in southwestern Poland that represents 540 companies, while the other 24 will go to three unnamed U.K. industrial groups. The company claimed that the deal represents the "largest development pipeline of new nuclear projects in the world" with the ambitious aim of completing its first Polish SMR plant in 2025 and its first U.K. project in 2026.

"By providing clean, on-site baseload electricity and heat to industrial partners, Last Energy's PWR-20 micro nuclear power plant fills a critical gap for heavy energy users as they seek a reliable solution for rapid decarbonisation," the company stated. "Industrial energy use accounts for a quarter of global greenhouse emissions and European industrial competitiveness depends on securing a stable supply of cost-competitive power, with many companies and regions struggling to secure adequate power to attract and retain industrial partners."

Janusz Michałek, president of the Management Board of Poland's KSSE added: "The KSSE is at the forefront of Poland's energy transition, and this partnership is a key part of securing our regional and national competitiveness. Industrial investors are looking for a secure supply of carbon-free power to power their operations today, and seamlessly scale as their power requirements increase. This project would provide the type of security and certainty in energy supply and price that our industrial partners need to make long-term investments in our area."

Declining to reveal its U.K. customers, Last Energy said they included a life sciences campus, a sustainable fuels manufacturer, and a developer of hyperscale data centers. "The demand for zero carbon, baseload energy solutions is huge, and micro nuclear is an ideal solution for distributed energy users", explained Last Energy U.K. Chief Executive Officer Mike Reynolds. "Our private-sector led approach to delivering new nuclear power supports the wider Government efforts to promote growth and investment in the green industries of the future."

Last Energy has claimed previously that the PWR-20 is production ready but it has yet to receive the necessary approvals from regulators in either country--a process that can take many years. The PWR-20 reactor has not yet officially entered the U.K.'s new Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process for SMR technology. Industrial Info is tracking one pilot project for its 20-MW reactor in Mioveni, Romania, with a proposed commissioning date after 2030. The 470-megawatt (MW) SMR design from Rolls-Royce (London, England) was the first, and only, SMR to begin the government's assessment process last in April. Based on small pressurized water reactors (PWRs), the company plans to build 16 SMRs, each capable of generating up to 470 MW of electricity--enough to power 450,000 homes for 60 years. The first plants are not expected to be operational until the early 2030s, with the goal of having 10 completed by 2035. In January, the government revealed that it was assessing applications from six new SMR companies seeking to join the GDA process, including GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) (Wilmington, North Carolina) and Holtec International (Jupiter, Florida).

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