# BWXT Project Pele: Optional Onsite-Power Screening Addendum **Research date:** November 15, 2026 **Project Hub:** [Masters Energy Inc. USA Underground Data Center Projects](https://dcstudyhub-q7awgpdd.manus.space) BWXT's selected Project Pele design is a 1.5 MWe government microreactor prototype, not a commercially orderable product. Federal environmental review discussed a broader 1–5 MWe mobile-microreactor design envelope; that range should not be mistaken for BWXT commercial capacity available to this project. [1] [2] ## Project status and design BWX Technologies, headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia, is the prime builder and integration lead for the transportable Project Pele demonstration. BWXT describes a four-container system using HALEU/TRISO fuel, designed for up to three years without refueling, with demonstration testing and power operation targeted for 2028 at Idaho National Laboratory. BWXT reports manufacturing milestones at its Lynchburg campus; INL reported receiving the first TRISO fuel shipment in December 2025. These are prototype-program milestones, not evidence of a licensed commercial installation at an underground data center. [1] [2] [3] The concept's potential value is firm on-site electric generation, supply diversity, and resilience. Those benefits depend on a future commercial product, licensing, fuel access, site engineering, and economics. A transportable format is a feature of the federal demonstration; it does not itself establish a schedule, cost, or approval pathway for a commercial data-center installation. ## Fit with a 20 MW critical-IT concept At the hub's 20 MW critical-IT default and PUE range of 1.30–1.45, the modeled facility electric load is 26–29 MW. One 1.5 MWe prototype-sized unit would equal about 5.2%–5.8% of that nameplate load. Eighteen to twenty such units would match the load arithmetically before reserve capacity, auxiliary loads, derating, maintenance, outages, UPS, or backup requirements. A single unit therefore cannot make this 20 MW IT campus self-contained. A reactor supplies electricity; it does not eliminate data-center or reactor heat rejection. Server heat and reactor waste heat still require engineered cooling systems. The hub does not assume the reactor would be installed inside the cavern. Any future concept should initially treat it as a separate, accessible, site-engineered power facility connected to the underground load, subject to regulator and engineering review. ## Cost and illustrative sensitivity BWXT's 2022 release described an approximately $300 million cost-type contract, depending on options, to design, manufacture, and deliver a first-of-a-kind government prototype. That is a development and demonstration contract—not the sale price of one 1.5 MWe unit, repeat-unit CapEx, site-installed cost, or an operating-cost quote. No public commercial unit price or verified vendor estimate for fuel, operations and maintenance, security, or decommissioning was identified in the sources reviewed. [4] The hub's optional calculator therefore keeps commercial annualized cost blank until a user enters an explicit assumption. A decision-grade cost model would need vendor-backed estimates for capital and financing, fuel supply and transport, staffing, operations and maintenance, security, licensing and emergency planning, insurance and liability, waste and spent-fuel disposition, decommissioning, cooling, grid interconnection, reserve capacity, and backup generation. HALEU supply timing is an additional diligence risk; GAO reported in 2026 that near-term supply may not meet demand. [5] The calculator uses these scenario formulas, not a project forecast: annual generation equals selected 1.5 MWe modules × 8,760 hours × a user-entered output factor; gross retail-value equivalent equals annual MWh × 1,000 × the hub's electricity-price assumption. At the 20 MW IT default, one module at a hypothetical 90% output factor would generate 11,826 MWh/year and have a gross retail-value equivalent of about $1.075 million/year at the hub's preliminary 2026 YTD EIA industrial-price reference of 9.09¢/kWh. That is not an avoided bill, net saving, revenue, LCOE, return, or feasibility conclusion. It excludes unit costs, parasitic load, losses, outages, reserve generation, demand charges, taxes, and site-specific conditions. The default output factor is 0%, so no nuclear power or savings are credited until the user changes it. [6] ## Safety and approvals Project Pele is a non-commercial federal demonstration proceeding under DOE authorization at INL; its demonstration pathway is not a commercial site license. NRC materials describe a separate licensing and regulatory pathway for commercial reactor design, siting, construction, and operation, with public involvement. TRISO's multiple protective fuel-particle layers are a design feature, not a guarantee of zero risk. A real installation needs its own regulator/jurisdiction determination and site-specific review of environmental impacts, emergency planning, security, fuel transport and disposition, staffing, insurance, cooling, and decommissioning. [2] [7] [8] ## Optional explainer The [Apex Builds video supplied by the project owner](https://youtu.be/Z4iXalVUFpk?si=FFDppRohpKDQ23tr) discusses Project Pele, portable reactors, HALEU/TRISO, and possible civilian data-center use. It is third-party material, not an official BWXT, DOE, DoD, or NRC source. Its forward-looking civilian discussion is included for context only; its claims are not used as verified project facts or calculator inputs. ## References [1]: https://www.bwxt.com/sectors/defense-space/land/project-pele/ "BWXT, Project Pele" [2]: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2210/ML22106A000.pdf "U.S. Department of Defense, Project Pele environmental review" [3]: https://inl.gov/news-release/inl-advances-department-of-wars-project-pele-demonstration-microreactor-with-first-triso-fuel-delivery/ "Idaho National Laboratory, first Project Pele TRISO fuel delivery" [4]: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220609005154/en/BWXT-to-Build-First-Advanced-Microreactor-in-United-States "BWXT, Project Pele prototype contract announcement" [5]: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-26-107385.pdf "U.S. Government Accountability Office, HALEU supply review" [6]: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=table_5_03 "U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly" [7]: https://www.bwxt.com/sectors/nuclear-fuel/triso/ "BWXT, TRISO fuel design" [8]: https://www.nrc.gov/facilities-safety/new-reactors/how-we-regulate "U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, commercial new-reactor regulation"