Industry Update—October 2025

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently reviewing X-energy’s construction permit application for the first Xe-100 deployment at Dow’s Seadrift Operations manufacturing site in Texas, where four reactors are planned. In addition, X-energy is advancing a second Xe-100 deployment, this one in Washington state, in collaboration with Energy Northwest and Amazon, with as many as 12 reactors planned.

BWX Technologies has launched a subsidiary named BWXT Advanced Fuels, dedicated to the commercialization of advanced nuclear fuel like TRISO. BWXT Advanced Fuels will pursue partnerships to ensure the availability of BWXT-manufactured nuclear fuel on a commercial scale for advanced nuclear reactors. BWXT has been manufacturing TRISO fuel for more than 20 years at its Lynchburg, Va., facility and has also recently completed the designing and manufacturing of TRISO fuel for the Department of Defense Strategic Capabilities Office’s Project Pele.

A strategic collaboration has been launched between Lightbridge Corp. and Oklo Inc. to explore the potential co-location of a Lightbridge fuel fabrication facility within Oklo’s planned advanced fuel manufacturing plant. The co-located facility would support the production of advanced nuclear fuels for both fast reactors and light water reactors and would also be used as a joint research ­and ­development hub for developing advanced fuels.

Radiant Nuclear and data center developer Equinix have signed a preorder agreement for Equinix to purchase 20 of Radiant’s 1-MWe Kaleidos high-temperature, gas-cooled microreactors. The Kaleidos microreactor is one of 11 advanced reactor projects that the Department of Energy has selected for its Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program.

Equinix has also signed a letter of intent for a power purchase agreement with the Dutch nuclear energy developer ULC-Energy. The agreement covers as much as 250 MWe for powering data centers in the Netherlands. Rolls-Royce SMR, with which ULC-Energy is collaborating, will be supplying.

Poland’s Synthos Green Energy (SGE) has signed an LOI with Hungary’s nuclear energy development company Hunatom, which is part of the Paks II Group, to establish a project development preframework for as many as 10 GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 SMRs in Hungary. SGE is the designated project developer for the BWRX-300 in the region. Through the FIRST Program, the U.S. SMR Pan-European Regional Interest Nuclear Group (SPRING) project is facilitating deliveries of BWRX-300 SMRs in the region via a fleet deployment approach.

SGE has also signed a memorandum of understanding on the possible deployment of BWRX-300 SMRs with Slovenské Elektrárne. The agreement will allow the Slovak company to analyze BWRX-300 technology in detail and assess its potential for Slovakia in a qualified manner.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico stated that the European Commission has positively assessed a draft agreement between the governments of the Slovak Republic and the United States on cooperation in nuclear energy. Fico said that this draft was a basic prerequisite for the conclusion of another intergovernmental agreement on the construction of a new Westinghouse 1,250-MW reactor at the Bohunice nuclear power plant.

Rolls-Royce SMR has signed an MOU with the Czech Republic’s Škoda JS to begin a strategic partnership focusing on the potential production of components for a global fleet of SMRs that are designed to provide baseload power generation for at least 60 years. The unit has dimensions of about 16 meters by 4 meters and is mostly built in factory conditions, with on-site activity limited primarily to the assembly of prefabricated, pretested modules, thereby shortening build schedules.

Rolls-Royce SMR has also signed a contract with the Czech company ÚJV Řež for the analysis, testing, and evaluation of critical components for its reactors.

Blykalla and the Research Institutes of Sweden have signed an MOU to partner on the accelerated development of Blykalla’s lead-cooled SMR for industrial and municipal applications. Since its founding in 2013, Blykalla, a spin-off from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, has been developing the SEALER (Swedish Advanced Lead Reactor) lead-cooled SMR.

Trondheimsleia Kjernekraft and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power are conducting a feasibility study on the construction of a power plant based on multiple KHNP-designed i-SMRs in the Norwegian cities of Aure and Heim. Trondheimsleia Kjernekraft is a partnership between the Aure and Heim municipal governments, local energy company NEAS, and nuclear project developer Norsk Kjernekraft. The study—with support from the South Korean export credit bank Korea Eximbank—is to assess the technical, environmental, and regulatory requirements for establishing several i-SMR reactors in the cities.

Norsk Kjernekraft and Ocean-Power have signed an MOU to collaborate on the development of concepts, technology choices, and business models for floating nuclear power plants based on SMRs. Norsk Kjernekraft has been seeking to build, own, and operate SMR power plants in Norway in collaboration with other companies. Ocean-Power has been working on plans to develop 200- to 250-MW floating power plants featuring combined gas turbines and steam turbines.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited has signed an MOU with Engineers India Limited to provide engineering services related to the conceptual design and engineering of structures, systems, and components for the Bharat SMR (BSMR). India envisions 100 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047 with contributions from the BSMR-200, which is being jointly developed by NPCIL and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. The BSMR-200 is a pressurized heavy water reactor that will use slightly enriched uranium fuel and have passive safety features.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS

Sigma Science’s services to expand through acquisition

RSI EnTech, an environmental and nuclear services firm that is part of ASRC Industrial (AIS) and is headquartered in Oak Ridge, Tenn., has acquired Sigma Science. Based in Albuquerque, N.M., Sigma is a small business that provides comprehensive nuclear professional services to federal and commercial clients, including the Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Department of Defense. The acquisition is expected to help Sigma expand its services and solutions for nuclear energy, security, and infrastructure modernization programs.

AtkinsRéalis and Kinova have extended their global strategic partnership in nuclear robotics for another three years. The extension builds on the successful deployment of Kinova’s Gen3 robotic arm within the AtkinsRéalis Remote Glovebox Operation (ARGO) system at the Sellafield site in the United Kingdom. Demonstration units of this system are also operating at the AtkinsRéalis Technology Centers in Richland, Wash., and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The next phase of the partnership is to focus on further refining and expanding this technology for use at nuclear sites around the world, including the development of tools and functionalities that will enable the system to perform a wider range of tasks for remote handling and treatment of hazardous materials in gloveboxes.

Candu Energy, of the Atkins­Réalis Group, has renewed its 10-year master services agreement (MSA) with Bruce Power, which operates eight CANDU reactors at the Bruce nuclear power plant in Ontario. Effective until 2035, the new agreement replaces the previous MSA signed in 2015 and covers possible future scopes of work for AtkinsRéalis. This work, which is expected to be worth as much as $1 billion, includes all original equipment manufacturer services and innovation scopes that support the health and maintenance of the Bruce plant, such as reactor core engineering, tooling and robotics, parts supply, nuclear safety and licensing, project management and controls, outages, reactor programs, and life-cycle management.

CONTRACTS

Agreement signed for development of the world’s largest private grid

U.S.-based energy developer Fermi America has signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction to plan and develop the nuclear component of what will be the world’s largest private grid, designed to power a next-generation AI complex in Amarillo, Texas, in partnership with the Texas Tech University System. The project is to be a first-of-its-kind, behind-the-meter “HyperGrid” campus that will integrate nuclear power with a combined-cycle natural gas project, utility grid power, solar power, and battery energy storage. Fermi America and Hyundai E&C are cooperating on the joint planning of the nuclear-based hybrid energy project; development of detailed work packages for each project stage; front-end engineering design; and pursuit of an engineering, procurement, and construction contract.

Curtiss-Wright has signed a teaming agreement with the Nord-Lock Group to serve as an authorized distributor for Nord-Lock’s Superbolt mechanical tensioners and Boltight hydraulic tensioners. Curtiss-Wright will market, promote, and supply these tensioners to its customers in the nuclear energy industry throughout North America.

Belgium-based Tractebel has signed a mutual agreement with NRG-Pallas that extends the companies’ collaboration on the construction of the Pallas research reactor in Petten, the Netherlands. Tractebel, which is part of France’s Engie Group, and its subcontractor NucAdvisor are serving as the owner’s engineer for the Pallas reactor. The extended agreement reinforces Tractebel’s commitment to the reactor, which includes long-term experts embedded within the integrated project team, support from Tractebel’s global nuclear competence centers, independent third-party review of civil engineering works, and a safety chair position on the Pallas Safety Committee. Tractebel is also delivering training and facilitating knowledge transfer to improve the Intelligent Customer and Design Authority capabilities of the Pallas organization. NRG-Pallas announced in May that the construction pit and the foundation for the Pallas reactor had been completed.

South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corporation and Emirates Nuclear Energy Company have signed an MOU to jointly explore cooperation on various global nuclear projects, including restarts in the United States, small modular reactors in the United Arab Emirates, and nuclear-powered hydrogen production in South Korea. The two companies are also considering potential investments in U.S.-based nuclear service and equipment companies and the development and financing of a nuclear power plant in Romania. The MOU was signed after another agreement between ENEC and Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which set up a framework for knowledge-sharing, collaborative evaluation of project participation, and assessment of strategic investment opportunities. Yet another agreement signed by ENEC, with Westinghouse, calls for the exploration of collaboration opportunities for the deployment of advanced nuclear energy projects in the United States.

Rosatom and the Niger Ministry of Energy have signed an MOU to cooperate on the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Niger produces approximately 5 percent of the world’s uranium, though operating permits for mines were withdrawn after a military coup in 2023.