Advanced Nuclear & SMRs

The Department of Energy approved Antares Nuclear’s documented safety analysis for its test reactor, Mark-0, under DOE’s reactor pilot program, the company said this week.  The documented safety analysis marks the acceptance of Antares’s final design for its Mark-0 reactor. The company now enters the DOE’s readiness review process, which is the final phase of […]

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) CEO Don Moul is set to retire from the federally-owned utility July 1, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing submitted this week. Moul became the president and CEO of TVA in April 2025 after then-CEO Jeff Lyash retired. His tenure will come to a close after nearly one […]

The Air Force and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) said Wednesday it picked Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado and Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana as potential locations for nuclear microreactors. The decision comes under the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations program (ANPI), a partnership between the Air Force and DIU to deploy “advanced, […]

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 was the entity that formally submitted the application, NANO Nuclear said in an April 2 press release. The application […]

The Air Force and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) said Wednesday it picked Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado and Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana as potential locations for nuclear microreactors. The decision comes under the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations program (ANPI), a partnership between the Air Force and DIU to deploy “advanced, […]

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 said it made the recommendation to […]

The Department of Energy approved Antares Nuclear’s documented safety analysis for its test reactor, Mark-0, under DOE’s reactor pilot program, the company said on Monday. The documented safety analysis marks the acceptance of Antares’s final design for its Mark-0 reactor. The company now enters the DOE’s readiness review process, which is the final phase of […]

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) CEO Don Moul is set to retire from the federally-owned utility July 1, according to a Monday Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. Moul became the president and CEO of TVA in April 2025 after then-CEO Jeff Lyash retired. His tenure will come to a close after nearly one year. Prior […]

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 […]

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 […]

While the United Steel Workers (USW) union supports advanced nuclear projects for its members, it wants to ensure that employee health and safety remain protected at advanced reactor projects That’s the gist of supplemental comments filed with the Department of Energy in March by the union. “USW represents workers across the Department of Energy nuclear […]

Executives with advanced reactor companies sounded upbeat during a Tuesday webinar on their projects chances of reaching criticality by Independence Day under the Department of Energy’s reactor pilot program. Officials from Aalo Atomics, Antares Nuclear and Radiant Nuclear all expressed optimism during an American Nuclear Society panel discussion webinar titled “Path to Criticality.” DOE’s reactor […]

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched Artemis II this week, beginning its string of upcoming lunar missions. NASA’s Artemis II 10-day, four person mission is to verify Orion spacecraft and systems that are designed to travel into deep space with people on board. The mission involves circling around the moon before heading back […]

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has submitted its operating license application to Canada’s nuclear regulator for the company’s first small modular reactor (SMR) at the Darlington nuclear site in Clarington, Ontario. The March 25 application also seeks permission for an associated waste storage structure for the Darlington New Nuclear Project, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) […]

Citing factors such as growing electricity demand, several states are forming working groups, task forces or commissions to explore new nuclear power generation.  The interest extends into New England, which has a complicated history on nuclear power, with multiple retired reactors and at least a couple of senators, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Sen. Bernie […]

Holtec International completed major refurbishment projects for the shuttered Palisades reactor in Michigan and is on track to restart the plant probably in the first half of this year, the company said this week. Site preparation is also getting underway for a couple of planned small modular reactors at the property that could enter service […]

An Amentum-led joint venture has won a $406 million (£300 million) contract by Great British Energy – Nuclear to serve as the owner’s engineer for the small modular reactor (SMR) project in the United Kingdom. The Litmus Nuclear, joint venture between partners Amentum and Cavendish Nuclear, signed a long-term agreement that can last up to […]

New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) issued an executive order to explore adding more nuclear power to the state’s energy mix. In the March 26 executive action, Ayotte ordered state agencies, led by New Hampshire’s Department of Energy, to do a review of regulatory and financial factors affecting nuclear deployment. Once the results of the […]

While the United Steel Workers (USW) union supports advanced nuclear projects for its members, it wants to ensure that employee health and safety remain protected at advanced reactor projects That’s the gist of supplemental comments filed with the Department of Energy in March by the union. “USW represents workers across the Department of Energy nuclear […]

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has submitted its operating license application to Canada’s nuclear regulator for the company’s first small modular reactor (SMR) at the Darlington nuclear site in Clarington, Ontario. The March 25 application also seeks permission for an associated waste storage structure for the Darlington New Nuclear Project, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) […]

Executives with advanced reactor companies sounded upbeat during a Tuesday webinar on their projects chances of reaching criticality by Independence Day under the Department of Energy’s reactor pilot program. Officials from Aalo Atomics, Antares Nuclear and Radiant Nuclear all expressed optimism during an American Nuclear Society panel discussion webinar titled “Path to Criticality.” DOE’s reactor […]

New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) issued an executive order to explore adding more nuclear power to the state’s energy mix. In the March 26 executive action, Ayotte ordered state agencies, led by New Hampshire’s Department of Energy, to do a review of regulatory and financial factors affecting nuclear deployment. Once the results of the […]

In a request for information (RFI) released March 25, the Air Force is looking for input from companies interested in deploying nuclear reactors at its bases. The RFI listed on procurement database sam.gov says the service is interested in 1 megawatt to-300-megawatt microreactors and small modular reactors (SMRs), not large-scale reactors. Interested companies will need […]

While the United Steel Workers (USW) union supports advanced nuclear projects for its members, it wants to ensure that employee health and safety remain protected at advanced reactor projects That’s the gist of supplemental comments filed with the Department of Energy in March by the union. “USW represents workers across the Department of Energy nuclear […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is set to issue its long-awaited new licensing process to speed reviews of advanced nuclear reactors. The rule, known as 10 CFR Part 53 or Part 53, is the first new set of regulations for approving reactors since 1989 and the first major update to reactor licensing standards since 1956 when […]

X-Energy and Talen Energy have signed a letter of intent to explore development of X-Energy Xe-100 reactors in Pennsylvania to serve the PJM, a regional transmission organization. PJM serves parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia. Talen, a Houston-based power company, operates the Susquehanna Nuclear Station in Salem Township, Pa., within the PJM […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public input on Fermi America’s combined license application for Project Matador based in Carson County, Texas. NRC has opened up a 30-day comment period to gather feedback on the scope of its draft environmental impact statement it is preparing for the application. The period closes on April 20, according […]

Kärnfull Next submitted Sweden’s first small modular reactor (SMR) application this week under the country’s new legislation, Act of Government Approval of Nuclear Facilities. The application, which was submitted by ReFirm Målma AB, covers a proposed SMR campus in Valdemarsvik in southern Sweden and was submitted to Johan Britz, Minister for Employment and acting Minister […]

Austin, Texas-based Aalo Atomics unveiled its completed reactor building of its critical test reactor at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. Aalo held a March 19 ceremony for the finished reactor building on March 19, according to a company press release. The company said it completed the reactor structure in six months and expects […]

X-Energy has started the process to become a publicly-traded company, announcing last week it filed a draft registration statement with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). X-Energy, a nuclear company based in Rockville, Md., plans to trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol XE, according to the company’s March 20 press […]