Deployment of nuclear power as mass-manufactured “heat boxes” has “transformative potential” for rapidly expanding global access to clean energy, according to the non-profit energy innovation group Terra Praxis.

Terra Praxis has launched an initiative to enable universal access to clean, secure and affordable energy through the deployment of heat boxes – mass manufactured advanced nuclear reactors in the 50-100 MW range – enough to power around 100,000 homes. The Ten-Terawatt Initiative is a strategy to enable the deployment of 10 TW of low-cost, clean, firm power by 2040 and an additional 20 TW by 2050.

Terra Praxis argues that the mass deployment of nuclear heat boxes is necessary because conventional nuclear construction cannot achieve the timelines required to meet the scale of demand within the needed timeframes. The conventional industry also faces cost issues that can make financing difficult.

According to Terra Praxis, a mass-manufactured 100 MW nuclear heat box would cost $60m (€57m), or about $600/kW), a radically lower cost than nuclear today.