On June 9, Tennessee became the first U.S. state to implement its own regulatory framework for nuclear fusion machines. It’s a notable step in the rapidly developing field of fusion regulation, and will help Tennessee prepare to regulate Type One Energy’s proposed commercial fusion power plant near ...
The 2026 ANS Annual Conference, “Net Out and Power Up,” brought the nuclear community together in Denver at the end of May. Over four days at the Sheraton Denver, we heard from exceptional speakers on the most consequential questions facing our field; how fusion and fission can complement each other...
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy turned its attention to nuclear permitting reform at a June 9 hearing—looking at a total of six proposals....
Last week at the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference in Denver, Colo., the ANS Board of Directors approved the creation of six new ANS student sections and one new local section. Including these new additions, the Society now boasts 37 local sections and 70 student sections, which together ...
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The Department of Energy has approved Xcimer Energy's Athena fusion power plant preconceptual technical design. With this milestone achieved, the Denver, Colo.-based company is now moving forward with its plans to develop economical laser inertial confinement fusion using two beamlines, gas laser t...
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The Department of Energy has released what it is calling a “finalized” national strategy to accelerate the development and commercialization of fusion energy, with the goal of scaling up the private fusion sector by the mid-2030s. Released on June 9, the Fusion Science and Technology (FS&T) Roadmap ...
Mandatory hearings conducted as part of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission reactor licensing review will be held much sooner in the process, the agency announced Tuesday. A provision states that uncontested hearings must be held at some point after 30 days of an application being docketed. Historically...
On June 3, Brandon Williams, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, was at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to break ground on the Advanced Testbed and Operations Learning Laboratory (ATOLL). The planned 21,000-square-foot facility, which is scheduled to be completed in mid-2028...
A batch of 163 dummy nuclear fuel assemblies has been loaded at Turkey’s Akkuyu-1 nuclear power plant in the southern province of Mersin as a key part of the commissioning process. Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said the dummy fuel is designed to be an exact replica of nuclear fuel in de...
The deployment of molten salt reactors (MSRs) is no longer a distant aspiration, but coordinated action will be needed if projects are to be delivered on time, a conference in Germany has concluded. Delegates at the 1st European Conference on Molten Salt Reactor Technology said action that needs to ...
Dubai-based global port operator DP World has launched a study alongside French research organisation the Commisariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) into the use of a small modular reactor (SMR) at the Romanian port of Constanța. In a statement, DP World, which is also worki...
Founded by two researchers from MIT, Ferveret reduces the amount of energy and water required to cool the chips that power AI....
Maritime classification and certification organization the American Bureau of Shipping has granted its approval in principle (AIP) for the integration of a nuclear reactor into a cargo vessel propulsion system, as developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Maritime Consortium. This is th...
The final executive session of the American Nuclear Society’s 2026 Annual Conference was titled, “With Great Processing Power Comes Great Responsibility: Ethics and Opportunities for AI and Tomorrow’s Workforce.”...
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On June 1, the planned restart of the Crane nuclear power plant (formerly Three Mile Island-1) received a boost when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved Constellation’s waiver request to transfer certain rights to the Middletown, Pa., plant....
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Twice per year, the American Nuclear Society confers Presidential Citations on individuals who have demonstrated outstanding efforts benefiting ANS or the broader nuclear community. Last week at the opening plenary of the 2026 ANS Annual Conference in Denver, Colo., immediate past president of ANS H...
A major nuclear refurbishment at the Bruce nuclear power station has been completed seven months early and CAD150m (€93m, $107m) under budget. On Monday, Ontario energy and mines minister Stephen Lecce announced that Bruce Power’s Bruce-3 reactor had returned to service after refurbishment that bega...
Japan will need to replace as many as 14 of its nuclear reactors by the 2050s in order to meet its future energy demands, a recently released draft policy proposal states....
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Officials with the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management discussed spent nuclear fuel recycling and conditioning with counterparts from Japan during the 13th U.S.-Japan Technical Meeting of the Civil Nuclear Energy Research and Development Working Group, held recently in Santa Fe...
The applications of nuclear energy extend beyond providing power to the electrical grid. Advanced nuclear technologies may soon have new applications in oil and gas facilities, in hospitals and clinics, on the open seas, and on the moon. A June 1 executive session, “How Nuclear Technologies will Sha...
On June 1 at the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference in Denver, Colo., a team from Idaho National Laboratory presented a session titled “Lessons Learned from MARVEL Reactor Fabrication.” The presentation highlighted challenges that arose as they moved from design to manufacturing and assemb...
Scientists at Idaho National Laboratory have discovered that plutonium hexaboride (PuB6) displays a type of unusual quantum property called a topological Kondo insulating state. Materials with this property are neither typical electricity conductors nor regular insulators. Rather, they have exterior...
A complete set of four steam generators has been delivered for Unit 4 of the Akkuyu nuclear power station under construction in Turkey’s southern Mersin province, project company Akkuyu Nuclear said. The steam generators were manufactured at the Atommash plant in Volgodonsk, Russia, part of Russian ...
The University of Liverpool’s Chadwick Institute for Nuclear Innovation has signed a memorandum of understanding with the World Nuclear Transport Institute (WNTI) and the International Commission on Radiological Protection to collaborate in key areas of nuclear research and education. London-based W...
(As prepared for delivery) Mr Chairperson, Wars in Europe and in the Middle East are undermining the safety of nuclear facilities, increasing the risk of accidents....
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Sunday (7 June) it had been informed by Ukraine of a drone attack early this morning on the central spent fuel storage facility within the Chornobyl nuclear power station exclusion zone. The IAEA said the attack, which took place at about 02:00 l...
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“The nuclear renaissance is real here,” said Ontario Power Generation’s Subo Sinnathamby on May 8, one year to the day after OPG secured a final investment decision to build the first of four planned BWRX-300 reactors at its Darlington nuclear power plant, and shortly after the new reactor’s foundat...
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Leveraging more than $140 million in private capital fundraising, over 322,000 square feet of operational manufacturing space, and multifaceted partnerships with the Departments of Energy and Defense, reactor start-up Antares has become the first company involved in the Reactor Pilot Program to achi...
Two companies specializing in ultrasonic nondestructive testing and structural health monitoring are to advance to the final phase of a selection process to demonstrate acoustic emission technologies for the automated monitoring of spent nuclear fuel dry storage canisters....
Japan plans to rebuild between two and five ageing nuclear reactors by the 2040s and as many as 11 to 14 by the 2050s as it aims to secure stable power supply, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing a draft policy presented on 5 June. The proposal, outlined by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Ind...
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved Constellation’s waiver request to transfer PJM capacity interconnection rights from one of its gas- and oil-powered plants to its Crane nuclear power plant (formerly Three Mile Island-1). While Constellation executives previously said that an uns...
US nuclear reactor company Antares announced on 4 June that its Mark-0 microreactor achieved initial criticality at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), making Antares the first private company to bring an advanced reactor to criticality under the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) push to deploy advanced ...
(As prepared for delivery) Mr Chairperson, Excellencies, I have just returned from the Arab Gulf, following my mission to assess and support nuclear safety in the region....
An outbreak of Rift Valley fever in Senegal in September 2025 threatened the health and livelihoods of people and livestock throughout the country and its neighbours....
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The American Nuclear Society journal Fusion Science and Technology (FS&T) has named a new technical editor: Kathryn McCarthy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The announcement came during the opening plenary at this week’s ANS Annual Conference in Denver, Colo. McCarthy’s term begins on July 1....
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The New York Power Authority is seeking nuclear reactor developers that can commence construction on large-scale reactors and/or small modular reactors before 2033 that can ultimately add at least 1 GW of new capacity to New York’s electrical grid....
Here is a recap of recent industry happenings: ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE Fluor gets X-energy contract for Dow’s Seadrift project Fluor Corporation has signed a contract to support X-energy’s planned small modular reactor project at Dow ’s UCC Seadrift Operations facility in southern Texas. Fluor’...
Nuclear power currently appears to have the wind at its back, with growing demand for clean, reliable energy from industry (think data centers) and strong political support for new projects. But getting there still will require a lot of pieces to yet fall into place. It is, as American Nuclear Socie...
On Tuesday, during Mark Peters’s last days as the American Nuclear Society’s vice president/president-elect before assuming the presidency on June 4, he sat down with ANS CEO Craig Piercy for a Fireside Chat at the Annual Conference. The MITRE CEO weighed in on his career path, what excites and worr...
The American Nuclear Society Student Section at the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (ANS-UPRM) recently testified in the Puerto Rican House of Representatives on the opportunities nuclear power could provide for the island. Specifically, section president Francisco Paravisini Domenech advocated f...
At the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference on June 1, an executive session covered the increasingly prominent subject of nuclear applications in the civilian maritime industry. Panelists who presented during “Advancing Nuclear Powered Maritime Shipping” highlighted the fact that the commerc...
The International Atomic Energy Agency intends to launch a new initiative at the IAEA ministerial in Washington, D.C. on August 26–27. The objective of the initiative, called Atomic Technologies Licensed for Applications at Sea (ATLAS), is to provide support for “the maritime industry’s exploration ...
The long-running decommissioning effort at Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power station has reached an important milestone with the start of removal of nuclear fuel from the spent fuel pool of Unit 2. The operation is one of the most technically challenging phases of the site’s decades-long clean...
New York state governor Kathy Hochul took two “significant” steps on 2 June towards her goal of deploying new commercial nuclear reactors, announcing solicitations for work force training and for a developer to start construction of at least one new reactor by 2032. The state-owned New York Power Au...
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors will convene its regular June meeting at the Agency's headquarters at 10:00 CEST on Monday, 8 June, in Board Room C, Building C, 4th floor, in the Vienna International Centre (VIC). Board discussions are expected to include, among othe...
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New developments in Sweden’s nuclear energy industry continue to make headlines. Last week, Swedish engineering services firm Studsvik submitted an application to build between 600 MWe and 1,400 MWe of new nuclear power capacity “at and around” its Nyköping Municipality headquarters. Separately, the...
Ten of the 27 member countries of the European Union recently sent a letter to the European Commission calling for nuclear power to be labeled as sustainable in a new rulemaking that pertains to powering data centers and artificial intelligence. While the EC’s decision could have significant impact ...
Yesterday, the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference got off to an exciting start with an opening plenary that in its first half featured extensive commentary from ANS CEO Craig Piercy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Ho Nieh, the Department of Energy’s Michael Goff, and several others ke...
GETTING STARTED At the outset, the project looked solid. The schedule was well defined. Cost projections were within expectations. Engineering milestones were aligned with procurement and construction plans. On paper, everything pointed toward success. But as construction progressed, challenges bega...
Cranberry Township, Pa., June 2, 2026 – Westinghouse Electric Company announced the appointment of Johan Lundberg as Executive Vice President of its Global Quality, Environment, Health & Safety function, effective August 3....
Urenco USA announced today that it will expand the capacity of the United States’ only commercial uranium enrichment facility by nearly 50%, marking a major commitment to strengthening the US nuclear fuel supply chain as the country expands the use of nuclear power. The company said the multi-billio...
Urenco USA announced today that it will expand its uranium enrichment capacity by nearly 50 percent with the construction of a new enrichment plant at the company’s National Enrichment Facility in Eunice, N.M....
Cameco and Orano Canada have reached agreement with Tepco Resources, a subsidiary of Japan-based Tokyo Electric Power Company, to acquire Tepco’s 5% participating interest in the Cigar Lake joint venture in Canada. Upon closing, Cameco's ownership stake in the Cigar Lake uranium mine in northern Sas...
The nuclear community descended on Denver, Colo., this week for the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference, which opened with a packed room and inspiring words from multiple speakers....
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Grouting Hanford’s low-level radioactive liquid tank waste could cost between $480 million and $1.1 billion, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office, which has repeatedly found that grouting (immobilizing waste in a concrete-like mixture) can accelerate cleanup at the Hanford S...
Grouting Hanford’s low-level radioactive liquid tank waste could cost between $480 million and $1.1 billion, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office, which has repeatedly found that grouting (immobilizing waste in a concrete-like mixture) can accelerate cleanup at the Hanford S...
The dormant Blue Castle nuclear power plant project in Utah has resurfaced, only this time as a proposed small modular reactor facility. Blue Castle Holdings and Fulcrum Point Holdings—founded by the owner of Hi Tech Solutions, a company behind a separate Utah nuclear project—announced last week a j...
The ITER Organization has announced that its magnet cold test facility is now in operational mode, allowing the preinstallation testing of superconducting magnets at the fusion reactor’s low operating temperature of 4 Kelvin (−269°C; −452°F) and full current of 68 kiloampere (kA)....
Two Chinese nuclear power projects have reached construction milestones with completion of the reactor building’s outer containment structure at Lianjiang-1 and installation of a section of the inner steel containment at Taipingling-3, local reports said. At Unit 1 of the Lianjiang nuclear power sta...
Today, there are 34 countries with operational nuclear power plants—but there are dozens more working on building a nuclear plant of their own. While progress on these projects inevitably ebbs and flows, broadly, momentum seems to be building on the international stage. That growing momentum manifes...
GETTING STARTED At the outset, the project looked solid. The schedule was well defined. Cost projections were within expectations. Engineering milestones were aligned with procurement and construction plans. On paper, everything pointed toward success. But as construction progressed, challenges bega...
The second reactor pressure vessel (RPV) has been lifted into place by the world’s largest crane at the Hinkley Point C nuclear site in southwest England. Hinkley Point C said the “Big Carl” crane had lifted the 500-tonne RPV into place before its precision installation inside the reactor building. ...
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it has been informed by the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that a drone struck a turbine building at the site on 30 May, causing a hole in its wall. The agency’s director-general Rafael Grossi expressed “serious concern” about the inci...
The IAEA Board of Governors will convene a meeting at the Agency's headquarters starting at 10:00 CEST on Friday, 5 June, in Board Room C in the Vienna International Centre (VIC). The meeting is convened by the Chair of the Board following a request from the Governors of the Arab Republic of Egypt, ...
The renewed global interest in nuclear power is often framed as a policy story driven by decarbonization goals, energy security concerns, and surging electricity demand from digital infrastructure and electrification. While these forces are real and durable, they materially understate the challenge ...
A team of scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has observed, imaged, and characterized the early stages of hydrogen-uranium corrosion for the first time, the lab announced recently....
Washington, D.C.-based Curio announced yesterday that it has submitted a letter of intent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to establish a docket for preapplication engagement activities and ultimately the submittal and review of a license application to operate a spent nuclear fuel recycling pro...
Nuclear officials in Kenya want to engage with residents in Siaya County and keep them informed as the country moves toward building its first nuclear power plant. The state-run Nuclear Power and Energy Agency said on May 23 it will conduct a “robust, transparent, and multilayered educational campai...
US-based Eden Radioisotopes has filed a construction permit application with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an isotope production complex near Eunice, New Mexico. This purpose-built facility is designed to produce a domestic source of life-saving medical isotopes – something currently unav...
Kindergarten classrooms, the control rooms of newly completed reactors, and the meeting rooms of ANS local sections all have one thing in common: they are only made useful once they are filled with hardworking and passionate people. In March, I had the privilege of engaging with some of the people i...
Canadian uranium miner Cameco announced that the Key Lake mill and McArthur River mine have returned to full production activities following a disruption caused by flooding in northern Saskatchewan. On 10 May 2026, Cameco announced that Key Lake had temporarily halted production activities and McArt...
Studies, regulatory control, and legislation are among the items Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, and North Carolina tackled in the month of May regarding nuclear energy....
Nuclear start-ups Oklo and Flibe Energy both announced this week that they have been selected by the Department of Energy for advanced negotiations under the department’s Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program, which aims to make surplus U.S. plutonium available to the nuclear industry for advanced r...