Nuclear

The Trump administration is touting a proposed 9.2‑GW natural gas power complex near Portsmouth, Ohio, as the centerpiece of a new U.S.–Japan trade deal that officials say could steer up to $550 billion of Japanese capital into American energy and industrial projects. According to a Feb. 17 Commerce Department fact sheet and a statement by […]

In the nuclear energy sector, cybersecurity is inextricably linked to day-to-day operations. It directly impacts physical safety, system reliability, and regulatory compliance, which makes it a persistent challenge to protect highly sensitive systems without interrupting the work required to keep them running safely.

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has teamed up with artificial intelligence (AI) computing giant NVIDIA to advance “PROMETHEUS,” INL’s first-of-its-kind demonstration of an autonomous nuclear reactor driven by AI, to execute a key challenge under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Genesis Mission. The move adds momentum to DOE’s push to apply AI across the full reactor […]

Nuclear power is emerging as a key, enabling technology for sustained human presence on the moon. With multiple countries and companies announcing ambitious lunar programs—from space research to mineral development to hotels—there is increasing global competition to establish long-term power supply and other infrastructure on the lunar surface.

Technology group Wärtsilä has been selected by Gramme Storage 1 to deliver a 50-MW/100-MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in central-eastern Belgium. The companies on February 16 said that the project supports Belgium’s transition toward the use of more renewable energy resources.

In a milestone for the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Feb. 13 issued its first approval of a commercial Category II nuclear fuel fabrication facility, granting a license to TRISO-X, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-energy, which allows the company to fabricate commercial tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel using high-assay low-enriched […]

Fusion energy company Helion said its Polaris prototype has set new industry benchmarks, becoming the first privately developed fusion energy machine to demonstrate measurable deuterium-tritium fusion and achieve plasma temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius.

A Massachusetts-headquartered nuclear energy company said it has received $33 million from a Series A funding round as the group scales its technology. Alva Energy on February 12 announced it has launched with a goal to support new electric power generation capacity from the existing U.S. reactor fleet.

As global electricity demand surges 40% by 2035 and warming projections worsen, nuclear, geothermal, gas, offshore wind, storage, and fusion must all advance—along with the workforce to build them. The global energy landscape is undergoing its most significant transformation since the Industrial Revolution. Electricity demand is surging at unprecedented rates while the imperative to decarbonize […]

Scientists around the world are making progress as they try different techniques to bring commercial fusion energy to fruition.

The world’s biggest nuclear power plant is again operating, after an earlier attempt to bring the facility back online was suspended due to an equipment problem.

The discussion about nuclear fusion has long involved its potential to create limitless amounts of energy. Thea Energy is one of several companies working to turn that potential into reality.

Rolls-Royce SMR and Yokogawa Electric Corp. have announced a strategic agreement for the Japanese industrial automation specialist to deliver data processing and control systems (DPCS) for Rolls-Royce’s small modular reactor (SMR) program—a deal covering the first units in what both companies envision as a global SMR fleet. Under the agreement, Yokogawa will design, engineer, validate, […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the federal agency responsible for licensing and oversight of civilian nuclear facilities, on Feb. 4 said it would launch a sweeping organizational restructure intended to consolidate decision-making authority, integrate licensing and inspection teams, and align the agency with presidential directives for accelerated nuclear technology deployment. The reorganization will create […]

Abilene-based Natura Resources, which won the first federal construction permit for a liquid-fueled molten-salt reactor in 2024, will work with NGL Water Solutions Permian to explore deploying its 100-MWe reactor design alongside thermal desalination systems to transform briny drilling waste into usable water—while powering data centers and other industrial loads hungry for around-the-clock electricity. The […]

An international nuclear power services company has confirmed it plans to submit an application to build new generation capacity at a long-closed nuclear power plant in Wisconsin.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Type One Energy and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville are partnering to establish a world-class facility that will drive American innovation and move fusion energy closer to reality. This high-heat flux (HHF) facility, located at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Bull Run Energy Complex in East Tennessee, will evaluate how materials react under extreme conditions in a fusion device.

The electricity sector faces a timing problem that’s becoming impossible to ignore. Data centers, artificial intelligence (AI) deployment, industrial reshoring, and broader electrification are driving load growth at rates not seen in decades—and much of that new demand wants carbon-free, firm power. Nuclear checks those boxes. But can the industry deliver capacity fast enough? POWER […]

Deep Isolation Nuclear, an innovator in nuclear waste disposal technology, on January 13 said the company has successfully completed its Project SAVANT (Sequential Advancement of Technology for Deep Borehole Disposal), a two-year research initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E).

For much of the 20th century, the U.S. set the global standard for civilian nuclear energy. American innovation shaped reactor design, safety culture, and regulatory practice worldwide. Yet today, as nuclear power regains prominence amid concerns over climate, energy security, and industrial competitiveness, America faces a quieter but more consequential challenge: the erosion of its nuclear fuel supply chain.

In-Depth: Meta’s suite of three landmark agreements is poised to provide the financial certainty to extend aging plants, accelerate first-of-a-kind advanced reactor deployments, and relieve PJM’s tightening capacity constraints while establishing the hyperscaler as an anchor customer for a 6.6-GW corporate-backed nuclear fleet. In a stunning move that reinforces Big Tech’s growing role in underwriting […]

Recent breakthroughs at U.S. fusion labs, along with new public-private partnerships, are bringing us closer than ever to realizing fusion energy’s limitless potential. However, the U.S. has a major gap to fill in fusion research and development (R&D), and workforce development.

Nuclear energy company Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) said it would collaborate with chipmaker NVIDIA and energy technology group Siemens to develop a digital twin of its SPARC fusion machine. The companies said their work will apply artificial intelligence (AI) and data and project management tools to accelerate commercial fusion.

A North Carolina-headquartered developer of small modular nuclear power plants announced it has an agreement with the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) for an initiative to build and operate a molten salt reactor.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued its first production-scale task orders under a $2.7-billion uranium enrichment program launched in 2024, awarding $900 million each to Centrus Energy Corp., General Matter, and Orano Federal Services to expand domestic capacity for conventional low-enriched uranium (LEU) and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) over the next decade. The […]

Vattenfall, Industrikraft Advance SMR Program at Ringhals in High-Stakes Deal. Swedish state utility Vattenfall and industrial consortium Industrikraft i Sverige AB signed an agreement, announced on Nov. 10

In early 2020, the prevailing narrative in the power sector was a continuation story of the developments from the decade before: renewable buildout will keep compounding, thermal capacity will keep retiring (albeit at a slower rate), markets will evolve to compensate for flexible generation products, capital will keep moving earlier in the development value chain […]

Entergy Arkansas, the utility that provides electricity to about 735,000 customers in 63 counties in that state, announced a plan to add about 2.6 GW of new power generation capacity, in part by converting old coal-fired units to burn natural gas. It also is renewing the operating license for the 1.8-GW Arkansas Nuclear One power plant, the state’s only nuclear power station, with plans to invest in new equipment that would increase the facility’s output.

Local government officials in Japan have given approval for the restart of a reactor at the world’s largest nuclear power plant. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility, where seven reactors have total generation capacity of nearly 8,000 MW, has sat idle since early 2012 in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, which caused Japan to shut down its nuclear power industry.

A Bulgarian energy company, along with a European project developer, has signed a letter of intent for a joint venture (JV) that could build a fleet of as many as six small modular reactors (SMRs) in the country. Blue Bird Energy AD and SGE S.A. on December 22 announced the JV would deploy BWRX-300 SMRs from GE Vernova Hitachi (GVH).