Nuclear

Technology group Meta, the parent of Facebook and Instagram, has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy to take about 1.1 GW of electricity from Constellation’s Clinton Clean Energy Center in Illinois. Meta and Constellation on June 3 said the contract means the power plant will continue to operate beyond its expected closure in 2027.

Deep Isolation, a leading innovator in nuclear waste disposal technology, in a news release said the group applauds the suite of executive orders signed by President Trump on May 23. The orders prioritize revitalizing the nuclear industrial base, accelerating the deployment of advanced reactors, and advancing spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) […]

Type One Energy announced on May 27 that it had successfully completed the first formal design review of Infinity Two, which is based on the world’s only implementable, peer-reviewed physics basis for a fusion power plant recently published by the prestigious Journal of Plasma Physics. The Infinity Two design is progressing in support of a […]

The only commercial nuclear power plant in the U.S. Pacific Northwest is set for a $700-million upgrade that would add nearly 200 MW of generation capacity. The Columbia Generating Station in Richland, Washington, with a current capacity of 1,207 MW, will undergo an extended power uprate that will be done during the plant’s next three biennial spring refueling outages in 2027, 2029, and 2031.

Government officials in Estonia announced the country will initiate a spatial planning process and an environmental impact assessment for construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant.

Advanced nuclear developer Oklo announced it has successfully completed borehole drilling for site characterization work at its Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site, marking a pivotal milestone as the company progresses toward constructing its first commercial Aurora Powerhouse—a liquid sodium–cooled fast reactor designed for scalable deployment. The standard nuclear project development step, involved “drilling of several […]

Most of the 440 operable nuclear power plants (NPPs) currently deployed worldwide have long been recognized as potential targets for attack by enemy military forces or terrorists. Such an attack could not only destroy the power-generating capacity of the plant but also release a large plume of radioactive material having the potential to cause long-term […]

The deciding factor in the artificial intelligence (AI) race may come down to our ability to provide new data centers what they need most: massive amounts of constantly available electricity. In the U.S., data centers and their need to accommodate AI account for about half the projected growth of electricity demand through 2030. But the […]

Ontario’s provincial government has given Ontario Power Generation (OPG) the green light to begin construction on the first of four  BWRX-300 small modular reactors (SMRs) at its Darlington New Nuclear Project (DNNP) site in Clarington, Ontario. “This represents the first new nuclear build in Ontario in more than three decades,” the utility noted. The province […]

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on May 7 told lawmakers that the Department of Energy (DOE) is entering what he called “a golden era of American energy dominance,” outlining the Trump administration’s strategy to prioritize fossil fuels, nuclear power, grid modernization, and permitting reform, while positioning the U.S. to lead in artificial intelligence (AI) […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has submitted the first portion of a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build a GE Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at its Clinch River Nuclear Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. If built, the Clinch River unit—dubbed CRN-1—will serve as a flagship for U.S. commercial […]

A nuclear power project developer said it has a deal with Google, with the technology company agreeing to commit funding for at least three projects that each would have 600 MW of generation capacity. Elementl Power, founded in 2022 and based in Greer, South Carolina, on May 7 said Google would help the company move toward its goal of bringing more than 10 GW of nuclear power capacity online by 2035.

The U.S. stands at a critical juncture. We’re experiencing electric load growth for the first time in decades, as fierce global competition reshapes the energy landscape. Nuclear power, both the resurgence of fission and the promise of fusion, could secure our energy future and position the U.S. as the global leader in energy technology for […]

Government officials in Germany are supporting development of a nuclear fusion pilot plant. Officials have said they want nuclear fusion to be a priority of the country’s energy agenda, barely two years after the country decommissioned its last three operating nuclear power plants in April 2023 at the direction of then-chancellor Angela Merkel.

While Alberta’s historical energy legacy has been defined by coal and crude oil, the Canadian province has embraced renewables and carbon capture over the past two decades, and is now exploring small modular

Major German BESS Project Closes Financing. Energy transition bank NORD/LB announced it has closed an €87 million ($94 million) financing package with Nofar Energy for construction of a 104.5-MW/209-MWh

U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn into office for the second time on Jan. 20, 2025. That means April 30 marks his 100th day back in office. A lot has happened during that relatively short period of time (Figure 1). The Trump administration has implemented sweeping changes to U.S. energy policy, primarily focused on promoting […]

U.S. production of coal has continued to decline since peaking in 2008, according to a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The EIA–on the same day earlier this month when President Trump signed an executive order designed to increase U.S. coal production and coal-fired power generation—released data showing the U.S. produced 578 million short tons (MMst) of coal in 2023, or less than half of the amount produced in 2008.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright on April 22 announced the release of the third loan disbursement to Holtec for the reopening of the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan.

A new report from GlobalData, a data and analytics group, projects global nuclear power capacity will hit 494 GW by 2035. The group said capacity gains will be tied to advancements in deployments of small modular reactors (SMRs), along with the continuing worldwide shift to cleaner forms of energy.

At Deep Fission, we’re taking a radically different approach to nuclear energy: smaller, safer, faster to deploy—and located a mile underground. By placing reactors deep beneath the Earth’s surface, we use the natural containment of billions of tons of bedrock to dramatically improve safety and cut costs. COMMENTARY Liz Muller, CEO and co-founder of Deep […]

A company working to mass produce portable nuclear microreactors said its has accepted its selection by the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) to receive high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel for the first test of Kaleidos, the group’s reactor design.

As the presidential inauguration loomed on the horizon in January this year, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Loan Programs Office (LPO) published a “year-in-review” article, highlighting accomplishments from 2024 and looking ahead to the future. It noted that the previous four years had been the most productive in the LPO’s history. “Under the Biden-Harris […]

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has given Ontario Power Generation (OPG) the green light to begin building a 300-MW GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at the Darlington New Nuclear Project (DNNP) site in Clarington, Ontario. The historic approval marks the first time Canada has approved the construction of a grid-scale SMR. The federal […]

In a critical step aimed at bolstering advanced reactor development and their domestic nuclear fuel readiness, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued its first round of allocations for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) under its HALEU Availability Program to five American nuclear developers. On April 9, the DOE said it made conditional commitments to […]

Advanced reactor developer X-energy and global materials science company Dow have submitted a construction permit application (CPA) to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a first-of-its-kind small modular reactor (SMR) project at Dow’s Union Carbide Corp. (UCC) Seadrift Operations in Calhoun County, Texas. The filing marks a major step forward for the much-watched commercial-scale […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has for many years been evaluating emerging nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors, as part of technology innovation efforts aimed at developing the energy system of the future. TVA—the largest public power provider in the U.S., serving more than 10 million people in parts of seven states—currently operates seven reactors […]

U.S. Withdraws from Global Clean Energy Partnership. The U.S. has withdrawn from the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), a 2021-launched financing cooperation mechanism, that seeks to help a selection

Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle 3 and 4 are the only new reactors that have been built in the U.S. in over 30 years. At the start, Georgia Power executives claimed that, unlike the first two reactors, Vogtle 3

Recognizing their desirable attributes and long-term potential to meet data center demands for power, several technology companies have announced their intention to team up with nuclear developers. At the same time, three companies with shuttered nuclear plants have notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission of their plans to restart those facilities, which were closed for economic reasons.