nuclear

Marking the first-ever revival of a nuclear power plant in the U.S., the Department of Energy (DOE) on Sept. 30 finalized a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to Holtec International to support the recommissioning of the 800-MW Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, Michigan. Separately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded electric cooperative Wolverine Power […]

Groundbreaking has kicked off at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where Project Pele—the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) full-scale transportable microreactor prototype—will be placed for testing in 2026. When operational, the reactor will become the “first-ever Generation IV nuclear reactor to generate electricity in the U.S.,” the DOD said on Sept. 24. Project Pele, developed under a […]

Google’s top executive confirmed the company is working on large-scale data centers that would use more than 1 GW of power. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, in a speech last week at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh said small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) could possibly be used to generate the needed electricity. Pichai […]

Microsoft has announced a deal to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. It’s the latest move by a technology company to use nuclear power to provide electricity for energy-intensive data centers and support the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The agreement announced September 20, if approved by regulators, would allow Microsoft […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted Abilene Christian University (ACU) a construction permit to build its Molten Salt Research Reactor (MSRR) facility on the university’s campus in Texas. The approval is the regulatory body’s first for a liquid-fueled advanced reactor, the first for a research reactor in decades, and its second for any advanced […]

Municipal power utility Idaho Falls Power (IFP) has announced it is negotiating a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Aalo Atomics, a 2022-founded nuclear engineering firm inspired by Idaho National Laboratory (INL’s) MARVEL microreactor. Aalo on Sept. 16 confirmed it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the utility to explore the deployment of a fleet […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said generation capacity of nuclear power worldwide is expected to rise more than the group previously expected, to as much as 950 GW of generation by 2050. The IAEA in a report published Sept. 16 revised its annual projection for a fourth straight year, saying global nuclear capacity could […]

A government agency in Russia has published a draft plan for the expansion of nuclear power in the country that calls for construction of as many as 34 new reactors by 2042. The Unified Energy System of Russia recently released the plan (translated from Russian), writing that it is open for consultation for the next […]

Chinese researchers have confirmed the first of two units of the 200-MWe high-temperature modular pebble bed (HTR-PM) demonstration project at the Shidao Bay site in Rongcheng, Shandong Province, successfully

A new U.S. president will be inaugurated in less than five months. Polls show the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to be very close, with potentially only a few swing states deciding the election. While energy policy may not be a deciding factor for many Americans in choosing who they will vote for, […]