Start-Up Touts ‘Design-Once, Build Many’ Plan, Seed Money to Build US Nuclear Plants

The Vogtle Unit 3 and 4 site, being constructed by primary contactor Westinghouse, a business unit of Toshiba, near Waynesboro, Georgia in an aerial photo taken Feb. 2017. (Georgia Power/Handout via Reuters)

A start-up finance venture is touting a “design-once, build-many” model in launching an ambitious plan to kick-start U.S. nuclear energy development by building a spate of new nuclear-fueled power plants.

The Nuclear Company, “a fleet-scale nuclear development company” based in Lexington, Kentucky, announced in a July 18 press release that it can dramatically reduce costs in building nuclear power plants with standardized processes that “integrate proven technology with unparalleled collaboration among diverse organizations.”

The Nuclear Company’s investors include CIV, True Ventures, Wonder Ventures, Goldcrest Capital, and MCJ Collective. Its “collaboration consortium” includes utilities, independent power producers, “hyperscalers,” nuclear technology suppliers, and private equity firms.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, the number of nuclear power plants in the United States decreased from 104 in 2012 to 55 in December 2022. Despite this decline, nuclear power has contributed a steady 20-percent share of the nation’s collective electrical output since 1990.

The United States under the Biden administration is committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Nuclear power already constitutes half of the carbon-free electricity generation in the United States, according to the Department of Energy.

The 55 nuclear power plants now operating across 28 states include reactors that are, on average, 40 years old, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The last new nuclear plant to come on line in the United States, in 2016, was the first since 1996.

Yet, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reports, there are no new domestic nuclear builds or expansions planned.

If the United States is to transition into renewable, carbon-free energy, then nuclear power will be a significant component in an “all of the above” energy policy that will generate jobs and address national security concerns, proponents say.

While no nuclear power plants are on drawing boards in the United States, China has 27 nuclear reactors under construction, The Nuclear Company said in its press release.

“The success or failure of the U.S. economy will be determined by our ability to power its innovations,” The Nuclear Company Co-founder and Chair Patrick Maloney said. “Nuclear power is the cornerstone of that endeavor.”

The International Energy Agency projects global electricity demand driven by AI data computing, manufacturing, and the “electrification of everything” will increase nearly 30 percent by 2030.

Nuclear energy will be key in meeting that demand, The Nuclear Company Chief Development Officer Juliann Edwards said.

“The Nuclear Company is working towards solving America’s surging energy demand by redefining how large-scale, nuclear infrastructure projects are delivered,” she said, noting its “design-once, build many” model can be rapidly implemented.

The firm, which currently has less than 50 employees, aims to build its five nuclear power plants that would add up to 6 gigawatts of electrical power to the grid by the mid-2030s. A gigawatt is typical average power for a city of about 1 million.

“We recognize the challenges facing our industry, where one-off nuclear projects historically go over budget and run behind schedule,” Ms. Edwards said, but this process “ensures that fleet-scale projects are executed on-time and on-budget.”

“The Nuclear Company’s business model is designed to solve the problems that have constrained the country’s nuclear potential,” Mr. Maloney said. “The Nuclear Company aims to reposition the U.S. as a paradigm of clean energy advances that will set the standard for the industry.”

The time is right for such a venture, The Nuclear Company said, referring to a Pew Research Center May 30–June 4, 2023 survey that showed 57 percent of Americans say they favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity, up from 43 percent who said so in 2020.

The Nuclear Company also points to growing bipartisan support for nuclear energy in Congress with June’s Senate adoption of the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act.

The Nuclear Company did not indicate what prospective sites it is considering to build nuclear plants but said there are numerous already approved or partly approved nuclear plant proposals that could be revived and made more affordable by adopting its building model.

In advancing its initiative, the company is launching a July 23–Aug. 1 Nuclear Frontier bus tour with stops in six states and Washington “to engage with government and industry leaders, as well as the skilled tradespeople who will rebuild America’s nuclear leadership.”

Those states, likely housing prospective plant sites, are Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia.