---
title: "Here’s How to Build Your Own Nuclear Power Plant"
description: "A new site claims to offer a guide to building an entire nuclear power plant, from the reactor vessels to the Homer Simpson-esque control panels."
date: "2020-03-06"
modified: "2020-03-06"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/build-your-own-nuclear-power-plant"
categories:
  - "Energy"
  - "Nuclear Fusion"
  - "Renewable Energy"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "energy"
  - "nuclear power"
  - "open source"
  - "the digest"
---

# Here’s How to Build Your Own Nuclear Power Plant

![A new site claims to offer a guide to building an entire nuclear power plant, from the reactor vessels to the Homer Simpson-esque control panels.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/build-your-own-nuclear-power-plant.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: OPEN100\</em\>*

## Nuke Crew

A [new site](<https://www.open-100.com/engineering>) claims to offer a guide to building an entire nuclear power plant, from the reactor vessels to the Homer Simpson-esque control panels.

"We only just launched and in the last two weeks we’ve been flooded with inbound interest from individual engineers, industrial partners, and even international developers," said Bret Kugelmass, managing director of the nonprofit Energy Impact Center, which created the open source designs in a [new interview](<https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/open-100-nuclear-power-plant-open-source/>) with *Digital Trends*.

## Climate Crisis

The goal, Kugelmass told *Digital Trends*, is to provide startups, engineering firms, and other stakeholders a cache of resources to develop new energy resources, with a goal of decarbonizing the global economy by 2040.

To that end, he told the site, his group interviewed more than a thousand experts over the course of two years and visited nuclear sites in 15 countries.

## Long View

In much of the world, construction on new nuclear plants has [fallen off](<https://www.wbur.org/earthwhile/2019/09/18/nuclear-power-miniaturization-new-technology>) in the wake of disasters like Fukushima and Chernobyl.

But advocates say new developments would make new plants much safer, and Kugelmass told *Digital Trends* that the effort has already been met with an outpouring of interest.

He also praised "attention we’ve been receiving from National Laboratories around the world, who are eager to build upon the precedent of the early U.S. nuclear industry when scientific institutions aided private industry in a rapid scale-up of nuclear energy.”

**READ MORE:** [ Someone just uploaded open-source nuclear power plant blueprints to the web](<https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/open-100-nuclear-power-plant-open-source/>) \[*Digital Trends*\]

**More on nuclear power:** [*Experts Are Horrified by the Military’s Portable Nuclear Reactor*](<https://futurism.com/physicists-horrified-militarys-portable-nuclear-reactor>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)