The Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration has signed a first-of-a-kind memorandum of cooperation (MOC) with the Port of Long Beach, in southern California, to advance the development of small modular reactors for powering commercial vessels, ports, and other maritime assets. With the signing, Long Beach became the first U.S. seaport to form a partnership with MARAD on commercial nuclear-powered maritime vessels. The federal maritime agency had issued a request for information in May seeking industry input on the development of domestic, scalable, commercially viable reactors for U.S. marine transportation.

The second annual Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX 2026)—which promises to bring together the full nuclear energy ecosystem to focus on real-world progress in the sector—will be held August 24–27 in Dallas, Texas.

Within the past month, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has signed memorandums of understanding to increase its cooperation with two U.S. maritime organizations. In late June, the NRC signed an MOU with the U.S. Coast Guard to strengthen coordination on civilian maritime nuclear projects, including floating nuclear power plants and civilian nuclear propulsion. On July 21, the NRC signed an MOU with the newly formed Marine Minerals Administration (MMA) to improve cooperation regarding potential future nuclear projects on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Last week, the Department of Energy announced a conditional commitment to provide high-assay low-enriched uranium to NASA for its Space Reactor-1 Freedom rocket and to Radiant Industries for its microreactor expected to be sited at Buckley Space Force Base.

The announcement comes a few weeks after Centrus Energy signed a contract to finalize the terms of a $900 million DOE task order to expand production capacity for HALEU at its American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio.

Recent happenings in Europe highlight that nuclear power activities are expanding globally. Here is a roundup of headlines with an international flavor.

Illinois has received nine responses to a notice of intent (NOI) expressing interest in hosting a new nuclear facility, according to submissions filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC).

In February, Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued an executive order directing the commission to release two NOIs, one aimed at nuclear power plant developers and another for potential host communities. The second NOI requested information from Illinois communities interested in having a nuclear facility and gave them a deadline of May 25 to respond. Pritzker’s executive order arrived about a month after he lifted the state’s moratorium on new nuclear reactors being built in the state.

Commercial fusion power is closer than ever. There are now around 30 U.S. fusion companies, several of which claim to be on track to connect to the grid as early as the 2030s.

Tokamak and laser inertial confinement approaches benefit from decades of research at facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and ITER, with alternative concepts including stellarator, magnetic mirror, and Z-pinch confinement also making notable progress as private and government funding for fusion increases.

On July 21, TerraPower announced that it had been accepted into the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. INPO and TerraPower alike celebrated the development as the first time an advanced nuclear company has joined the institute’s ranks, representing an important step forward in safety and industry coordination among newcomers to the nuclear industry.

About three million packages containing radioactive material are transported in the United States every year, and multiple federal agencies work together to ensure the shipments are safe. While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission addresses the design and use of packaging, for example, the Department of Transportation oversees shipments.

Amidst growing prominence of microreactors and other nuclear technologies, the NRC has issued a proposed rule to address how to safely transport new nuclear reactors and their associated radioactive material.

Nuclear fuel manufacturer Standard Nuclear is describing “construction and regulatory approval milestones” for two TRISO fuel production facilities that are both under construction. The company reports that construction is “substantially complete” for both the SN-TN (in Tennessee) and SN-ID (in Idaho) sites and that the Department of Energy has approved the preliminary documented safety analyses (PDSAs) for both facilities.

Standard Nuclear is participating in the DOE’s Fuel Line Pilot Program and Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program, and is also among the companies receiving HALEU from the DOE for use in their fuel production or reactor programs.

The Department of Energy announced yesterday that it has selected 278 projects under the Genesis Mission request for applications, which opened in March.

According to a White House press release on the same day, $5 billion in federal commitments will be put toward the Genesis Mission.

Last week, Austin, Texas–based nuclear fuel start-up SuperCritical Materials announced that it has secured a license from the Department of Energy for a patented uranium and critical materials adsorbent manufacturing process originally developed by a team led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

SuperCritical aims to use this license to extract uranium from seawater at an industrial scale in the United States and abroad.

Mark Peters
president@ans.org

It is both an honor and a privilege to begin my term as president of the American Nuclear Society. I am deeply grateful for the trust placed in me by the membership, and I look forward to serving this remarkable Society over the coming year.

I would also like to recognize the leadership of my predecessor, Hash Hashemian, as well as the dedication of ANS CEO Craig Piercy, our staff, and countless volunteers. ANS succeeds because people choose to contribute their time, expertise, and energy in service of a mission larger than themselves.

We begin this year at a moment of tremendous opportunity for nuclear science and technology. Around the world, there is growing recognition that nuclear energy and nuclear technologies are essential to addressing some of society’s most pressing challenges. At the same time, advances in areas ranging from medical isotopes and fusion to space nuclear systems and advanced reactors are creating new possibilities for innovation and impact.

This story has been updated to include a July 23 quote from President Trump.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have reached a civil nuclear cooperation agreement that could allow the Middle Eastern country to develop civilian nuclear infrastructure and provide a new commercial market to the U.S. nuclear industry.

On Tuesday evening, the Wall Street Journal first reported that the two sides had reached an agreement with a term of 30 years. Then, Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday that he and Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman had signed the agreement alongside an accompanying bilateral safeguards agreement.

The public had a rare opportunity Tuesday morning when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission gathered leaders from the Department of Energy, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, TerraPower, Radiant, Westinghouse, and X-energy to share updates on their respective high-profile new nuclear projects and initiatives.

During the meeting, titled “Advanced Reactor Landscape: Current Status and Moving Forward,” federal and industry officials presented on their respective endeavors, providing new updates, refreshers on previously announced information, and takeaways from their experiences.

The National Nuclear Security Administration has granted authorization to Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) to begin the decontamination and decommissioning work with the Calciner Project (CALP) at the Y-12 National Security Complex, in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

A tiny ribbon may hold big promise for detecting radiation damage in future tokamaks.

Researchers at the University of Arizona have shown that, when exposed to gamma radiation, graphene nanoribbons exhibit altered current flow from quantum effects while maintaining their atomic framework, suggesting strong potential for use in sensors for monitoring gamma-induced damage to materials and devices in extreme environments, such as fusion machines.

The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) has signed a research agreement with Quantum Leap Energy (QLE) “to advance and de-risk the commercial production of high-purity uranium hexafluoride (UF₆).”

QLE is an Austin, Texas–based subsidiary of ASP Isotopes (ASPI), which is developing an isotope enrichment platform for applications in nuclear energy, nuclear medicine, and semiconductors. QLE specializes in the uranium conversion step of the nuclear fuel cycle—the conversion of yellowcake uranium concentrate (U₃O₈) into UF₆ prior to enrichment.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that its Economic Development Administration (EDA) intends to award $31 million to the Intermountain-West Nuclear Energy Corridor (INEC) Tech Hub. The Idaho Advanced Energy Consortium (IAEC), the group that leads the INEC Tech Hub, subsequently announced that matching donations from its stakeholder partners will bring the total investment up to $40 million.

A new report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office states that the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) has disposed of more than 16 million tons of radioactive and hazardous waste from the Moab Mill Site. While cleanup continues at the Cold War–era uranium ore processing site in southeastern Utah, a plan for the next phase of groundwater remediation is still needed, according to the GAO.