Small Modular Nuclear: VC-Backed Developer Targets 800 Sites in Europe

Bret Kugelmass, CEO of Last Energy, reveals how his team is cutting nuclear build costs, landing contracts in the UK, Poland & Romania, and scaling a $200M-per-unit model to decarbonize global power.

My guest today is Bret Kugelmass, Founder and CEO of Last Energy.

In addition, Bret is…

• The podcast host at Titans of Nuclear
• Managing Director at The Energy Impact Center
• Former CEO of Airphrame, a drone company that he sold to a Fortune 500 buyer
• A graduate of the Stanford School of Engineering

Last Energy is a VC-backed full-service developer of small modular nuclear power projects with the goal of transforming the nuclear power industry by dramatically reducing the time and cost of construction. Their mission is to decarbonize global energy production and increase access to clean, affordable power. They are targeting 2025 for its first units, which require around $200 million to build, and they are investigating 800 other potential sites to deploy the units across Europe.

In this episode, we talked about:

• The three most common misperceptions about nuclear energy
• What he learned from 800 interviews with nuclear energy experts
• Common mistakes made by 50 next-gen nuclear startups
• The outsized role that construction finance plans in the overall cost of nuclear power
• Last Energy’s initial contracts to build small modular nuclear reactors in the UK, Poland, and Romania
• What he means by this quote: “We’re innovative in the way that we are not trying to be overly innovative. We don't reinvent the reactor core, the physics, the chemistry, the materials.”
• How to avoid multiplying risks
• The role of business model vs. tech innovation to get clean energy to market
• The distinction between corporate and project finance for their go-to-market strategy
• And lots more

Hope you enjoy it!

And give Bret and Last Energy a shout-out on LinkedIn, Slack, or Twitter by sharing this podcast with your people.

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