The Silent Backbone: How Additive Manufacturing Is Re-Energizing the World’s Power Grids

APRIL 01, 2026 | Reading time: 4 min

 

The global energy landscape relies on a concept known as the capacity factor. This metric measures a power plant's actual energy output against its maximum theoretical potential. In the United States, nuclear power serves as the undisputed heavyweight of the grid, maintaining a staggering 93% capacity factor. To put that in perspective, natural gas hovers around 57%, while wind and solar fluctuate between 25% and 35%.

While the nuclear sector fights to close the gap on that final 1% of reliability, the oil and gas industry battles a different beast: the inventory tax. Companies like ExxonMobil spend billions of dollars to keep physical spare parts on shelves across the globe. Often, 40% of these parts, such as pump impellers, never even enter service. They simply collect dust and taxes until they become obsolete.

Today, additive manufacturing (AM) is providing solutions to both these challenges, transforming a prototyping novelty into the critical infrastructure of global energy security.

 

The Pursuit of the Final 1%

In the nuclear industry, "good enough" doesn’t exist. Westinghouse Nuclear uses AM to target the tiny fractions of downtime that separate a high-performing plant from a perfect one. Adam Travis, the Global AM Program Leader at Westinghouse, advocates for a philosophy he calls "Design for Purpose." He argues that engineers should move away from the restrictive mindset of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM). Instead, they should use AM to realize a part's ultimate functional goal without the baggage of traditional manufacturing constraints.

A primary target for this philosophy is the "leaker" problem. Leakers occur when tiny debris in the coolant loop wears through a fuel rod, exposing uranium pellets. It takes only a single 5mm strand of wire to cause such a failure. Traditionally, better filters meant a higher "pressure drop," which reduced overall plant efficiency. However, Westinghouse developed the Stronghold AM Filter for boiling water reactors. By using AM to create complex, tortuous internal flow channels, they achieved 100% filtration of 5mm debris while maintaining the same pressure drop as older, less effective models.

 

Understanding the Design for Purpose Approach

This "Design for Purpose" approach also birthed the Additively Manufactured Bottom Nozzle (AMBN) for pressurized water reactors. This safety-related component features a sophisticated 3D mesh that is 13 times more efficient at capturing debris than its predecessor.

This innovation pushed debris filtering efficiency from 65% to an incredible 96%. These parts are not just complex; they are "safety-related," a classification in nuclear that is as stringent as "flight-critical" is in aerospace.

 

The Digital Warehouse

While Westinghouse focuses on fluid dynamics, ExxonMobil is redefining the supply chain through its Digital Supply Network. Christopher Beeson, the Additive Manufacturing Lead for ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge area, oversees a massive strategic shift. Exxon has moved AM from centralized corporate labs in Houston and New Jersey directly to the sites. This transition treats AM as a mature, "go and do" technology rather than a research project.

The goal is to eliminate physical inventory tax by creating a "digital warehouse." Exxon participates in Field Node, a collaborative industry cloud where competitors like Shell and ConocoPhillips share non-IP 3D models. If a pump volute fails at an Exxon site, and Shell has already scanned and qualified that model, Exxon can access the file and print it immediately. This cooperation skips months of reverse engineering and bypasses the 12-month lead times typical of traditional castings.

 

The Effectiveness of Digital Passports

To facilitate this, the industry is adopting "Digital Passports" through the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP). These passports use Digital Readiness Levels (DRL) to ensure a file contains everything a vendor needs, from material hardness to surface finish specs.

Beeson notes that the goal is a "one-button" request for quote, turning years of supply chain lag into weeks of digital execution.

 

Beyond Prototyping: Real-World Milestones

AM's role in the nuclear industry reached a geopolitical milestone in 2023. Most Eastern European reactors, known as VVER reactors, originally relied on Russian fuel supplies. Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Westinghouse used AM to develop and qualify Western-sourced fuel flow plates in just 18 months.

This project proved that AM can beat traditional machining in terms of cost and performance. Westinghouse consolidated nine parts into two monolithic pieces, eliminating welds and increasing structural strength. By 2024, they celebrated the 1,000th safety-related AM part produced for this project. This represents true serial production in one of the most regulated industries on Earth.

ExxonMobil sees similar victories on a smaller, commodity scale. Beeson highlights a specific machined part that traditionally costs $540 because it requires four threaded components to be tacked together. By using AM to print the part as a single unit in bulk, the cost dropped to $196. Whether it is stabilizing a national power grid or saving $344 on a single valve component, the business case for AM is now undeniable.

 

The Next Frontier

The journey of energy-focused AM is accelerating. ExxonMobil is moving from 3D scanning legacy compressors built in the 1930s to implementing advanced technologies like Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) for massive components. These 5-foot-tall cast-iron replacements now have lead times of weeks instead of years.

Meanwhile, Westinghouse is looking toward the stars. They are applying their decade of AM experience to the eVinci microreactor and the AP300 small modular reactor. Perhaps the most exciting thing is their work with NASA on fission surface power for the moon. This project marries nuclear engineering with the quintessential AM use case: reducing weight for space travel while ensuring a reliable power backbone for a lunar settlement.

 

Securing the Future: AM as a Safety-Critical Tool for Global Energy

The era of using 3D printing for "fun or trinkets" is over. As Beeson and Travis demonstrate, AM has become a mature, safety-critical tool that ensures global energy security. From the deep refineries of Baton Rouge to the potential outposts on the lunar surface, AM provides the speed, design freedom, and reliability that traditional manufacturing simply cannot match.

We’ve moved far beyond a simple question of whether the energy sector will adopt AM; now, it's about how fast industry leaders can scale it to meet the world’s growing demand for stable, low-carbon power. EOS is ready to support that transition. Our team works with operators and OEMs to industrialize AM for safety-critical applications across nuclear and oil and gas.

Contact us to discuss turnkey additive manufacturing solutions that deliver certified quality, streamlined logistics, and the confidence your energy infrastructure demands.

 

Listen to the Additive Snack Podcast

You can connect with Adam Travis and Christopher Beeson on LinkedIn. Find and listen to their full Additive Snack Podcast episodes on Spotify: