Advanced Nuclear & SMRs

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week announced a proposed rule for microreactor approval under 10 CFR Part 57. The regulatory framework under Part 57 aims to enable rapid deployment of microreactors and other reactor technologies with similar risk profiles, according to NRC’s April 24 press release.  Under the proposed Part 57 rule, it allows for […]

The state of New York plans to select a site to host at least 1,000 megawatts of new nuclear power this year, according to an April 13 Bloomberg article. A New York Power Authority spokesperson confirmed the timeline with Exchange Monitor this week. New York Power Authority Senior Vice President of Nuclear Development Todd Josifovski […]

Kairos Power has broken ground on its Hermes 2 demonstration plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. over the weekend. The Hermes 2 plant is Kairos’s first commercial-scale reactor and was issued a construction permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2024. Barnard Construction, which is currently working on the Hermes low-power demonstration reactor, will serve as […]

Fermi America’s CEO Toby Neugebauer and chief financial officer (CFO) Miles Everson have resigned from their respective roles, according to recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings from the company. According to an April 17 SEC filing, Neugebauer’s resignation was effective on April 17. Everson’s resignation was made effective on April 19, according to a […]

Bellevue, Wash.-based TerraPower has begun nuclear construction for its molten salt Natrium reactor in Kemmerer, Wyo., the company announced Thursday. “This is the moment our industry has been working toward for a generation. We’re not just breaking new ground on a first-of-a-kind nuclear plant in Wyoming; we’re building the next generation of America’s energy infrastructure,” […]

Fermi America’s CEO Toby Neugebauer and chief financial officer (CFO) Miles Everson have resigned from their respective roles, according to recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings from the company. According to an April 17 SEC filing, Neugebauer’s resignation was effective on April 17. Everson’s resignation was made effective on April 19, according to a […]

Kairos Power has broken ground on its Hermes 2 demonstration plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. over the weekend. The Hermes 2 plant is Kairos’s first commercial-scale reactor and was issued a construction permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2024. Barnard Construction, which is currently working on the Hermes low-power demonstration reactor, will serve as […]

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Oklo made several personnel changes in key management positions and to its board of directors last week. Oklo appointed four new directors on April 14. The board members are David Christian, David Park, Derek Kan and Mark Peters. The appointments were made effective April 10, according to Oklo’s press release. “As we […]

The state of New York plans to select a site to host at least 1,000 megawatts of new nuclear power this year, according to an April 13 Bloomberg article. New York Power Authority Senior Vice President of Nuclear Development Todd Josifovski said in the article that the state will issue a request for proposals to […]

The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has entered into a partnership this week with the nuclear fusion startup Inertia Enterprises to explore and develop new fusion technology. According to LLNL’s Tuesday press release, the partnership consists of a cooperative research and development agreement focused on laser development and two strategic partnership projects. The […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said during a House hearing this week that the Department of Energy will lean on its Office of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing once again to help fund new advanced nuclear projects. During a Wednesday House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee hearing on DOE’s fiscal 2027 […]

A South Carolina nuclear advisory panel heard Monday that various feasibility tasks are underway to help a state-owned electric utility decide whether a $2.7 billion investment will be made to complete two partially built nuclear reactors.  The Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Power Station has three units, with only one currently active. The other two were […]

The Department of Energy has completed construction of its National Research Innovation Center’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed, located at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, the agency said last week. DOME is a first-of-a-kind facility that will allow private nuclear companies to test their microreactor technologies. The test bed facility serves to accelerate development, […]

The Department of Energy wants $10 million to fund the standalone Office of Fusion in fiscal 2027, according to DOE’s recent budget justification document. DOE said the $10 million request will support the office by providing funding for personnel, travel, advisory and start up assistance. The Office of Fusion will lead DOE in advancing “a […]

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy unveiled in a Tuesday memorandum a new initiative focused on the use of nuclear power in space. Within 30 days of the memorandum, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will create a program to develop a mid-power space reactor with a lunar fission surface power […]

Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Dave McCormick (R-Penn.) have introduced a bill this week that looks to expand the Department of Energy’s ability to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technology The bill, Nuclear Energy Innovation and Deployment Act, was introduced to the Senate on Tuesday. The senators said in the press release that the […]

Nuclear power, as a percentage of electric generation, is expected to remain relatively flat despite the Donald Trump administration’s push to reach 400 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2050, according to an April report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2026 report, published April 8, provides projections through 2050 for all […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy mishandled the funding and overall development of the Carbon-Free Power Project based near DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, the DOE Office of Inspector General (OIG) found in a recent audit. In October 2020, the Office of Nuclear Energy issued a 10-year, $1.36 billion award to Carbon-Free Power Project […]

Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Dave McCormick (R-Penn.) have introduced a bill this week that looks to expand the Department of Energy’s ability to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technology The bill, Nuclear Energy Innovation and Deployment Act, was introduced to the Senate on Tuesday. The senators said in the press release that the […]

Nuclear power, as a percentage of electric generation, is expected to remain relatively flat despite the Donald Trump administration’s push to reach 400 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2050, according to an April report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2026 report, published April 8, provides projections of what the agency […]

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy unveiled in a Tuesday memorandum a new initiative focused on the use of nuclear power in space. Within 30 days of the memorandum, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will create a program to develop a mid-power space reactor with a lunar fission surface power […]

The Department of Energy wants $10 million to fund the standalone Office of Fusion in fiscal 2027, according to DOE’s recent budget justification document. DOE said the $10 million request will support the office by providing funding for personnel, travel, advisory and start up assistance. The Office of Fusion will lead DOE in advancing “a […]

A South Carolina nuclear advisory panel heard Monday that various feasibility tasks are underway to help a state-owned electric utility decide whether a $2.7 billion investment will be made to complete two partially built nuclear reactors.  The Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Power Station has three units, with only one currently active. The other two were […]

The Department of Energy has completed construction of its National Research Innovation Center’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed, located at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, the agency said last week. DOME is a first-of-a-kind facility that will allow private nuclear companies to test their microreactor technologies. The test bed facility serves to accelerate development, […]

Fluor has signed an agreement to support X-Energy’s small modular reactor project at Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations in Seadrift, Texas. Under the contract, Fluor will provide Front-End Loading Stage 2 services for the project, according to the company’s Monday press release. There are five stages to the Front-End Loading process, Fluor said. Stage 2 focuses […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff this week recommended NRC issue a construction permit allowing the Tennessee Valley Authority to build a small modular reactor (SMR) at the Clinch River site in Oak Ridge, Tenn. In the final supplemental environmental impact statement, published Monday in the Federal Register, NRC staff recommended issuing the permit to TVA, […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received an application from Westinghouse this week that seeks to update and renew its AP1000 reactor design certification to support fleet-scale deployment. The Westinghouse application incorporates lessons learned from the construction of Vogtle 3 and 4 units into the design control documentation and uses Vogtle Unit 4 as its standard […]

Nearly half of the states have sprung to respond to the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus request for information by the April 1 deadline. An industry source told Exchange Monitor on Thursday that 25 to 28 states submitted a response to DOE, with a handful of them taking an interest in managing nuclear […]

New York-based NANO Nuclear has filed a construction permit application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its KRONOS microreactor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Champaign, Ill. The Grainger College of Engineering at the university formally submitted the application, NANO Nuclear said in an April 2 press release. The application was filed March 31. […]

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) has introduced legislation to codify into law President Donald Trump’s May 23, 2025 nuclear-related executive orders. The bill, Strengthening American Nuclear Energy Act of 2026, looks to make last year’s executive actions into law to protect the pro-nuclear policy from being undone via executive orders from future presidents, according to the […]