Of all the startups in DOE's Reactor Pilot Program, few have made less noise than Last Energy. It is a surprising change from the company that initiated the legal action questioning the scope of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's authority.
Now, Last Energy is asking for permission to build. The company filed the first part of a two-part construction permit application for a reactor project in Texas on October 20th, including requesting a limited work authorization (LWA) to start work on the facility foundation.
Who is Last Energy?
Founder and CEO Bret Kugelmass sold his Silicon Valley drone startup in 2017 and went all in on nuclear, starting a nuclear-focused podcast and a research institute before founding Last Energy in 2019.
The company's board includes PayPal co-founder Luke Nosek and Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb. Nosek’s Gigafund led Last Energy’s Series A, and McCaleb's Astra Institute led a $100 million Series C last year.
As the American reactor developer iterated at its facilities in Texas, it locked in agreements for over 50 reactors at multiple sites across Europe
A boring reactor, on purpose
In an attempt to not fix what isn't broken, their reactor design is as unoriginal as possible. The idea being that the more unoriginal a reactor design is, the easier it is going to
