The U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office has published its landmark Advanced Nuclear Liftoff Report, setting a concrete technical and policy vision for American nuclear power development. The report includes insight from Alva Energy on construction cost modeling and financing frameworks for large and small modular nuclear facilities.

The new report features data from our COSMIC software (Cost Optimized Simulator of Manufacturing, Installation and Construction). Originally pioneered at MIT by Alva CTO and Co-Founder Robb Stewart under the name NCET and further developed at Alva, COSMIC applies a consistent methodology across reactor designs to quantify how specific design choices influence cost and schedule. By leveraging techniques such as genetic algorithms for schedule optimization and Monte Carlo methods for uncertainty analysis, COSMIC translates complex design tradeoffs into actionable, data-driven insights for project developers and stakeholders.

Alva’s contributions also included analysis of nuclear project history and historical drivers of cost overruns, helping to identify key lessons learned and best practices for future projects. Alva’s expertise in nuclear project economics helped inform the report’s comprehensive analysis of financing pathways and cost structures – key elements in accelerating America’s rapidly accelerating power generation infrastructure buildout.

Alva is committed to bringing practical, data-driven solutions to nuclear project development. The Alva team was honored to work alongside the Department of Energy in advancing the future of nuclear energy, and enjoyed working with colleagues at MIT, McKinsey, and other companies on this important initiative.

Read the report here.