Nuclear

The energy landscape in the U.S. is undergoing a seismic shift, owing in part to the exponential growth of generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications and data centers, according to McKinsey & Company. This rise in energy demand is further exacerbated by the country’s increasing seasonal cooling and heating needs due to extreme weather. To offset […]

DeepGEO, a multinational spent nuclear fuel (SNF) repository developer, and Copenhagen Atomics, a Danish advanced thorium reactor innovator, have signed a first-of-its-kind collaboration agreement that seeks to revolutionize the nuclear fuel cycle by aligning emerging waste management solutions with next-generation reactor technologies. The landmark collaboration marks an industry-first effort to unite a reactor designer and […]

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has made the U.S. energy industry a focus of its plans for his first days in office, with analysts and energy experts expecting a rollback of environmental regulations for coal- and natural gas-fired power plants. That may have some utilities rethinking their strategies about the scheduled closure of some fossil […]

Officials with Kenya’s Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA) said the country is on track to start construction on its first nuclear power plant by 2027. The group at a parliamentary hearing this month said the facility would begin generating power by 2034. Kenya’s move is the latest by an African nation as more countries […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has taken a historic step by voting to issue construction permits for Kairos Power’s 70-MWth Hermes 2, a “low power” advanced test facility comprising two 35-MWth molten salt reactors. “Following the Commission’s vote, Hermes 2 is now the first electricity-producing Gen IV plant to be approved for construction in the […]

One of the biggest challenges the nuclear power industry faces is building plants on time and on budget. Having an experienced project team with the right leaders driving the bus, so to speak, can mean the

A filing with the Louisiana Public Service Commission shows that Entergy plans to build more than 2 GW of natural gas-fired power generation in the state, including a 1,500-MW facility in northeast Louisiana that would provide power for a large Meta data center operation in an area off Interstate 20 in Holly Ridge (Figure 1). […]

In a strategic move to reduce its heavy dependence on Russian natural gas, Belarus has successfully completed its first nuclear power plant (NPP). The Belarusian NPP, featuring two VVER-1200 reactors, now

A collaboration between startup Atomic Canyon and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory allowed construction of a sentence-embedding model using 53 million pages of Nuclear Regulatory Commission documents

At the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, last December, 25 countries underlined the role of nuclear energy in their climate strategies by issuing a

The need for emissions-free power generation, along with the ability to provide more power when and where it’s needed, is driving research and development of smaller nuclear reactors. Energy industry

While the past year has marked stunning triumphs for nuclear energy, experts caution that high costs, regulatory bottlenecks, and the need for market alignment remain major hurdles on the path to a true

Nuclear power plants are still being dismantled, and the business of decommissioning remains strong, but the need for more baseload power and emissions-free generation has some companies ready to restart idled

As global nuclear ambitions surge, the industry’s fuel supply chain faces critical gaps. Can advanced fuels like HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium) and TRISO (TRi-structural ISOtropic particle fuel)

In 2023, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Idaho State University unveiled the industry’s first near real-time digital twin of a nuclear reactor. The virtual replica of the 5-Wth AGN-201 research reactor

In its quest to drive down costs while boosting safety, the nuclear industry has ramped up efforts to streamline operations and maintenance (O&M). New approaches target efficiency and resilience. If there

This is indeed an extraordinary time to be in nuclear energy. Case in point: Over the past few months, we have seen an announcement between Microsoft and Constellation Energy to restart the Three Mile Island

The carbon-free attributes and consistently high fleet performance have led to increasing momentum behind nuclear power. With ambitious plans to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050, the nuclear industry is

Yet another nuclear power “renaissance”? Again? The industry and its friends in high places would like us all to believe so. But, besides the fact that “relapse” would be a better word choice, we’ve also seen this bad horror flick before. Anyone recall the George W. Bush administration’s attempted nuclear power relapse? Of some three-dozen […]

An analysis from global data and analytics group Wood Mackenzie says Republican control of the White House and Congress means U.S. energy policy will move away from net-zero emissions targets, but there remains bipartisan support for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The group also said competitive economics for renewable power resources mean the energy transition […]

Westinghouse and Radiant Industries have secured a $5 million Department of Energy (DOE) award to advance their microreactor designs for testing at the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) testbed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL)— the world’s first facility, specifically designed to support fueled reactor experiments for advanced nuclear technologies. The two companies, along with Ultra […]

Canada’s AtkinsRéalis Group announced it has an agreement to build two new CANDU nuclear reactors in Romania, which would be the first new reactors of that type built since 2007. The Montreal-based company on Nov. 15 said the Romanian project is a joint venture with Fluor Corp., Ansaldo Nucleare, and Sargent & Lundy. The contract […]

Officials from the U.S. and Ukraine said the countries will partner on building small modular reactors (SMRs) to replace the latter’s coal-fired power generation, with the SMRs used to help Ukraine decarbonize its steel industry. A statement from the U.S. State Dept., released at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Nov. 16, […]

Oklo has moved to acquire Atomic Alchemy, a U.S. firm specializing in high-value radioisotopes, in a $25 million all-stock transaction. The acquisition will add radioisotope production capabilities to Oklo’s advanced reactor and fuel recycling operations, creating a new revenue stream and strengthening the resilience of the isotope supply chain, the company said. Radioisotopes, unstable atoms […]

State-owned PGE, the largest power producer in Poland, said the 1,366-MW PGE Gryfino Dolan Odra power station has entered commercial operation. The facility is now the country’s largest gas-fired power plant. Officials on Nov. 8 said the station will supply about 5% of Poland’s electricity. PGE officials said the plant is “one of the most […]

Vistra is pursuing deals with data center developers in Texas and the PJM region to address the industry’s energy needs at multiple sites, executives revealed during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Nov. 7. The Texas-based competitive generator has entered discussions with some of the largest, unnamed data center operators to increase output at its […]

Tuesday’s election, which will return Donald Trump to the White House and grant the U.S. Senate a Republican majority, could have sizeable implications for the power industry. In reactions sent to POWER, industry groups expressed a combination of cautious optimism, resilience, and preparedness for potential changes. Industry leaders are bracing for a pro-fossil fuel agenda […]

As an energy professional in Georgia with a front row seat to the construction of Plant Vogtle, I found the October 23 Washington Post editorial endorsing nuclear energy as a tool for combating climate change astonishing. Georgia is the first state to build nuclear power in 30 years and the editorial board profoundly mischaracterized what […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has rejected an amended interconnection agreement that would have supported expanded co-located load at an Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center connected to the 2,520–MWe Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, citing grid reliability and cost fairness concerns. FERC on Nov. 1 voted 2–1, with Commissioners Mark Christie and […]

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC), a developer of much-watched microreactor technology and advanced nuclear fuel, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The move signals a critical restructuring phase through which the company will seek to secure new ownership while ensuring uninterrupted operations. The company’s Oct. 29 filings at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District […]