US company aiming to deploy its ‘plug and play’ nuclear technology
Plans for a microreactor nuclear power plant in South Wales have been boosted with completion of a preliminary design review (PDR) with UK regulators.
US-based Last Energy said a regulators’ joint summary report, which confirms successful completion of the PDR, marks a significant development in its efforts to deploy the first commercial microreactor in the UK.
Completion of the process follows over a year of early engagement with the regulators and five months of PDR-specific review, which included design workshops and technical submissions.
Last Energy said its plant design, known as the PWR-20, has become the first in the UK to successfully complete a PDR.
The review was conducted by the UK’s nuclear regulators; the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the Environment Agency, and Natural Resources Wales.
Last year Last Energy revealed £300m (€346m, $400m) investment plans for four 20-MW microreactors at the site of the former coal-powered Llynfi Power Station in Bridgend, which closed in 1977.
In December 2024, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Exim) issued Last Energy a $103.7m letter of intent confirming the bank’s willingness to finance end-to-end delivery of the company’s first microreactor in South Wales.
Last Energy said the South Wales project – officially known in Welsh as Prosiect Egni Glan Llynfi – is the first new site for a commercial nuclear power reactor to enter licensing in the UK since the Torness nuclear power station in Scotland in 1978. All British deployments since then have been on, or next to, sites with existing or former nuclear plants.
According to Last Energy, the “plug and play” PWR-20 combines proven nuclear technology with modular construction to deploy on time and on budget. The company says it has commercial agreements for 80 units throughout Europe, most of which will be developed throughout the UK.
The PWR-20 is based on established pressurised water reactor (PWR) nuclear technology found in hundreds of power plants around the world. It uses standard PWR fuel.
