Last Energy asks NRC to start foundation work for a Texas PWR-20 reactor

Last Energy wants to start on the foundation of its PWR-20 reactor in Caldwell County, Texas, before it holds a construction permit. On October 20, 2026, the company filed part one of a two-part phased construction permit application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its Caldwell Site, including a request for a limited work authorization. The NRC noticed receipt in the Federal Register on November 5.

The authorization would cover the foundation under the reactor vessel. Per the NRC's notice, it includes "installation of permanent elements of the foundation supporting the reactor vessel, including subsurface preparation, grout backfill, installation of a steel liner, and driving of steel H-piles." The application also carries financial qualifications, a preliminary safety analysis report for the portions of the facility within the authorization's scope, an environmental report and a site redress plan.

None of it is on the docket yet. NRC staff first decide whether the request is acceptable for docketing; only then does a detailed technical review begin, with later notices on docketing and public participation.

The county is new. Last Energy's February 2025 Texas plan was 30 microreactors on a 200-acre Haskell County site, with the company preparing to file for an Early Site Permit. The notice describes a single proposed facility and gives no unit count or capacity.

Last Energy and Blue Energy are on the same clock. Under 10 CFR 2.101(a)(9), the rule both notices cite, "Part two of the application must be submitted no later than 18 months after submission of part one." For Last Energy, by our arithmetic, that is April 20, 2028. Blue Energy started its clock first, filing part one of its own phased application with a limited work authorization request for a single BWRX-300 in Victoria, Texas, on September 15; its notice adds that the company intends to submit its full application within that window.

Last Energy's other Texas reactor runs on the DOE track: the company says its Texas A&M-RELLIS pilot cleared its final DOE safety analysis in October. Why a commercial plant needs the NRC instead is in What are SMRs and microreactors?; Advanced reactors in the US: SMRs and microreactors tracks each applicant.