NUCLEAR VENTURE CAPITALISM AT ITS WORST: LLYNFI AND LAST ENERGY
In November 2024, Last Energy, an American nuclear venture capital firm, announced plans for nuclear reactors at the former Llynfi coal power station, between Bridgend and Maesteg. Last Energy has never built or operated a nuclear power station anywhere in the world…
Last Energy originally announced that their Small Modular Reactors would be entirely privately funded, owned, and operated, and were intended to supply electricity directly to local industries. They later suggested powering domestic homes, then, when AI burst onto the scene, the site was touted as a possible place for an AI data centre. The company has now begun claiming domestic use again. In short, they are looking for a niche to fill, not trying to solve an already existing problem or need.
Furthermore, the company attempted a novel approach to the “Llynfi Clean Energy Project”. Last Energy first attempted to skirt or circumvent the usual licensing and regulation processdesigned to ensure safety compliance in order to deploy on the site by 2026. The regulatory bodies, it seems, have been willing to comply in this effort, with Last Energy recently speedrunning the site licensing process, and no news yet that its designs even meet the requirements of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority.
Documentation has not been forthcoming, but reports and what few records are available indicate that the intended use of the site is essentially to create what Last Energy calls ‘nuclear batteries’ – what we would call nuclear reactors – that, when their life-cycle has ended, are stored underground on site until the site is decommissioned.
What about the waste?
With 4 reactors operating at a time, each with a life cycle of around 6 years, the site is intended to be generating electricity for 42 years, so we could be dealing with upwards of 28 depleted nuclear reactors – each one still considered radioactive waste and in need of defuelling, decommissioning, and disposal once the project’s life cycle has come to an end.
Of course the intention of Last Energy and similar companies is not to save us from climate change, or even to provide clean energy – it is to make profit. Once the electricity generation stops, the profits stop, but the decommissioning costs start. Economics and past experience would suggest that the Llynfi operation would declare bankruptcy, with Last Energy (internationally) having first ensured their legal separation from the operation – leaving the decommissioning bill to us – as recently happened at the Ffos-y-fran opencast site.
As Last Energy continues toto place experimental technology at the heart of the south Welsh valleys, we must unite to oppose these plans and stop Wales from becoming a nuclear power test ground.
BRIAN JONES, DYLAN LEWIS-ROWLANDS