The New York Times this week covered the findings of Alva Energy’s recent analysis conducted with the U.S. Department of Energy, Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and MIT, examining how nuclear construction timelines can compress with repeated deployment.

In a feature on China’s accelerating nuclear program, The Times highlighted a central conclusion of Alva’s analysis: construction schedules for AP1000-derived reactors have fallen dramatically in China’s second build series. According to the DOE-supported research, newer CAP1000 and CAP1400 units are being completed in roughly five to six years — nearly half the time required for first-of-a-kind projects.

As Alva CEO James Krellenstein noted in the article, China’s approach was not to abandon large light-water reactor designs after early delays, but to pause, incorporate lessons learned, standardize execution, and build repeatedly. The result has been substantial schedule compression and decreased costs across successive units.

The Times situates these findings within a broader geopolitical context: as global interest in nuclear power resurges, execution capability — not the invention of new reactor technologies — is emerging as the decisive factor. China’s ability to replicate standardized designs under strong, centralized project management has enabled it to reduce build times and stabilize costs, even for large Generation III+ reactors originally derived from Western designs.

These observations reinforce the core conclusion of the study: the primary constraint on nuclear expansion is not reactor technology, but project management discipline and repeat execution. At Alva, this insight directly informs our strategy. Alva moves fast by deploying proven, regulator-ready technologies, focusing on standardized engineering, repeatable construction work packages, and structured integration of lessons learned across projects. These principles guide both our fleet-wide power uprate program today and our long-term strategy for scaling disciplined, repeatable new nuclear builds in the United States.

Read the full New York Times coverage here.

Read Alva’s full DOE-supported report here.