President Trump is in Japan today, with a visit with new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on the agenda. Takaichi, who took office just last week as Japan’s first female prime minister, has already spoken in favor of nuclear energy and of accelerating the restart of Japan’s long-shuttered power reactors, as Reuters and others have reported. Much of the uranium to power those reactors will be enriched at Japan’s lone enrichment facility—part of Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.’s Rokkasho fuel complex—which accepted its first delivery of fresh uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) in 11 years earlier this month.

Two bills were introduced in the last several weeks aiming to address nuclear power at the end of life—decommissioning plants and recycling used fuel.

The Department of Energy has a plan for private companies to “dispose of surplus plutonium”—about 19.7 metric tons in both oxide and metal forms—by “making the materials available for advanced nuclear technologies.” A Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program request for applications (RFA) issued October 21 describes the plutonium on offer, and the “thresholds” prospective applicants must meet.

The board of directors of South Carolina’s state-owned utility Santee Cooper voted today to approve the proposal from Brookfield Asset Management to complete two new AP1000 power reactors at the V.C. Summer site in Jenkinsville, S.C.

TerraPower announced that the final environmental impact statement for its Natrium small modular reactor has been completed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Four nominees to serve on the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that they support the build-out of new advanced nuclear reactors to meet the increased energy demand being shouldered by the country’s largest public utility.

The Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were the subject of two different announcements yesterday about new nuclear developments.

Google DeepMind—Google’s artificial intelligence development subsidiary—recently announced a new partnership with fusion start-up Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The goal of this collaboration is to leverage AI to both advance plasma simulation and discover novel control strategies, ultimately accelerating CFS’s timeline to deliver commercial fusion to the grid.

After nearly three weeks of a government shutdown, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has furloughed 1,400 employees and has retained 400 as essential employees who will continue working without pay.

Palisades nuclear power plant has received its first fuel shipment, a key step ahead of its highly anticipated restart by the end of the year.

Located in Covert Township, Mich., Palisades will be the first U.S. nuclear facility to restart after being slated for decommissioning. The Crane Clean Energy Center, formerly Three Mile Island-1, is the next decommissioned nuclear reactor to be resurrected, with an expected restart by 2027.

The University of Texas–Austin has released a report, Cultivating Homegrown Nuclear Talent in Texas: Workforce Development Recommendations for Advanced Nuclear Development, which emphasizes general actions needed for the state to meet the near-term demand for workers in the nuclear industry.

The report was prepared by a group of more than 50 stakeholders from the nuclear power industry, educational institutions, labor groups, and state agencies based on the findings of the 2025 Texas Nuclear Workforce Development Workshop, which was convened at the University of Texas–Austin to align these stakeholders on actionable recommendations.

Three actions: To improve the workforce pipeline, the report recommends the following:

A year ago this month, Amazon led a $500 million investment in X-energy, alongside Citadel founder Ken Griffin, the University of Michigan, and other investors. In addition to that financing, Amazon pledged to support the development of an initial four-unit, 320-MW project with Energy Northwest in Washington state.

Repairs have reportedly started to restore off-site power to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. About a month ago, the site lost connection to the grid for the 10th time during the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, according to Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The U.S. Army is moving forward with additional advanced reactor programs—building on multiple military efforts already underway as well as a separate pilot program at the Energy Department.

The Department of Energy introduced a Fusion Science & Technology (S&T) Roadmap on October 16 as a national “Build–Innovate–Grow” strategy to develop and commercialize fusion energy by the mid-2030s by aligning public investment and private innovation. Hailed by Darío Gil, the DOE’s new undersecretary for science, as bringing “unprecedented coordination across America's fusion enterprise” and advancing President Trump’s January 2025 executive order, “Unleashing American Energy,” the road map echoes plans issued by the DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) in 2023 and 2024, with a new emphasis on the convergence of AI and fusion.

The road map release coincided with other fusion energy events held this week in Washington, D.C., and beyond.

Here is a recap of recent industry happenings:

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

New international partnership to speed Xe-100 SMR deployment

X-energy, Amazon, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, and Doosan Enerbility have formed a strategic partnership to accelerate the deployment of X-energy’s Xe-100 small modular reactors and TRISO fuel in the United States to meet the power demands from data centers and AI. The partners will collaborate in reactor engineering design, supply-chain development, construction planning, investment strategies, long-term operations, and global opportunities for joint AI-nuclear deployment. The companies also plan to jointly mobilize as much as $50 billion in public and private investment to support advanced nuclear energy in the U.S.

It’s been a good month for Nano Nuclear in the state of Illinois. On October 7, the Office of Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that the company would be awarded $6.8 million from the Reimagining Energy and Vehicles in Illinois Act to help fund the development of its new regional research and development facility in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook.

American Fuel Resources, a provider a nuclear fuel cycle solutions headquartered in Spokane, Wash., has submitted an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requesting transfer of a materials license from Idaho-based radioisotope manufacturer International Isotopes for a depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) deconversion plant in Lea County, N.M.

Members of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s Second Framework for Irradiation Experiments (FIDES-II) joint undertaking gathered from September 29 to October 3 in Ketchum, Idaho, for the technical advisory group and governing board meetings hosted by Idaho National Laboratory. The FIDES-II Framework aims to ensure and foster competences in experimental nuclear fuel and structural materials in-reactor experiments through a diverse set of Joint Experimental Programs (JEEPs).

The American Nuclear Society recently announced the designation of three new nuclear historic landmarks: the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF), the Neely Nuclear Research Center, and the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Today’s article, the first in a three-part series, will focus on the historical significance of HFEF.