Features

Nuclear rocket propulsion has been investigated for decades, and NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission carried out significant testing in the 1960s as part of the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application program. NERVA chased the potential of the efficiency and energy density of nuclear thermal propulsion to extend our reach to new space frontiers before the program ended in 1973.

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

In this month’s issue of Nuclear News, readers will find coverage of the “other” areas where nuclear technology is pushing into new frontiers. From marine nuclear propulsion to nuclear systems that enable planetary exploration, the articles in these pages are a reminder that the influence of applied nuclear science extends far beyond the electric grid.

When many people hear the phrase “civil nuclear technology,” they still think first of power plants—an understandable association. Nuclear power has been one of the most reliable sources of large-scale electricity for decades. It is our storefront.

But nuclear technology has always been bigger than electrons.

The predawn darkness on a cool Florida night was shattered by the ignition of nine Merlin engines on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The thrust of the engines shook the ground miles away. From a distance, the rocket appeared to slowly rise above the horizon. For the cargo onboard, the launch was anything but gentle, as the ignition of liquid oxygen generated more than 1.5 million pounds of force. After the rocket had been out of sight for several minutes, the booster dramatically returned to Earth with several sonic booms in a captivating show of engineering designed to make space travel less expensive and more sustainable.

When the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy launched the Optimizing Nuclear Waste and Advanced Reactor Disposal Systems (ONWARDS) program in 2022, it posed a challenge that the nuclear industry had never seriously confronted before: how to design waste management solutions that anticipate the coming shift to advanced reactors and not merely retrofit existing systems built for an older generation of technology. The program’s objectives were ambitious—reduce disposal footprint, enable scalable pathways for unfamiliar waste streams, and build the technical foundations for future disposal—yet also tightly grounded in the realities of emerging nuclear fuel cycles. For the nuclear community, this was a timely call. Advanced reactors were accelerating toward deployment, but the waste management systems needed to support them had not kept pace.

Hash Hashemian (president@ans.org), proud grandfather of 1-year-old Vera Rose Sizemore.

With the 2026 ANS Annual Conference right around the corner, planning is well underway, with many exceptional speakers who will explore how fusion and fission can turn breakthrough innovation into real, scalable power that drives our clean energy future. I am looking forward to seeing the nuclear community in Denver in June.

If you want to hear some of my thoughts on the current state of nuclear power before the conference, you can watch or listen to the March 3 episode of the Blockspace podcast, on which I was a guest (blockspace.media/podcast/americas-nuclear-revival-is-here-w-dr-hash-hashemian/). There, I aimed to both reach a broader audience and promote the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology.

The episode contains a wide-ranging discussion about the current state of nuclear energy in America, touching on regulatory reform, surging electricity demand, and what it will take to maintain U.S. leadership in nuclear development.

Readers of Nuclear News will have heard of historical applications of civilian maritime nuclear power, like the merchant ship NS Savannah and the USS Sturgis floating power plant. With a few exceptions there has been little action in this area for over 50 years, and there are plenty of reasons and opinions as to why, but over the last few years the dramatic increase in interest from the maritime industry and its stakeholders has been undeniable.

With the significant advances in additive manufacturing (AM), otherwise known as 3D printing, Orano Federal Services and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte recently re-examined the capabilities to print impact limiters for transportation casks used to ship spent nuclear fuel. Impact limiters protect transportation casks (sometimes also referred to as transportation overpacks) and their contents during an accident. Impact limiter designs must withstand testing based on a certain significance level of hypothetical accidents, including drops, crushing, fires, and immersion in water.

A new, more complex nuclear age has begun. Echoing the tensions of the Cold War amid rapidly evolving nuclear and radiological threats, preparedness in the modern age is a contest of scientific innovation. The Research and Development Directorate (RD) at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is charged with winning this contest.

The nuclear industry has long recognized a shortage of both skilled craft labor and professional talent. As global demand for reliable energy continues to rise—across the United States and internationally—that need has not only increased but has become critical.” This is a truth that nuclear industry consultant Jeffery P. Hawkins understands, and it is why he developed a program called Interns to Industry. The former Fluor Corporation executive said that “there has been a deficit of qualified resources in the nuclear industry, and this is forecasted to be even more so in the future, so I am working with various universities to determine how to customize their curriculums to fit the forecasted needs of the industry.”

Designed for 40 years but built to last far longer, Switzerland’s nuclear power plants have all entered long-term operation. Yet age alone says little about safety or performance. Through continuous upgrades, strict regulatory oversight, and extensive aging management, the country’s reactors are being prepared for decades of continued operation, in line with international practice.

Recent years have seen growing global interest in nuclear energy and rising confidence in the sector. For the first time since the early 2000s, there is renewed optimism about the industry’s future. This change is driven by several major factors: geopolitical developments that highlight the need for secure energy supplies, a stronger focus on resilient energy systems, national commitments to decarbonization, and rising demand for clean and reliable electricity.

On January 5, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), the not-for-profit organization responsible for managing Canada’s nuclear waste, announced that it has submitted to the Canadian government an initial project description for its proposed deep geologic repository to hold Canada’s spent nuclear fuel.

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

So much of what is happening in federal nuclear policy these days seems driven by a common approach popularized in the technology sector. Silicon Valley calls it “move fast and break things,” a phrase originally associated with Facebook’s early culture under Mark Zuckerberg. The idea emerged in the early 2000s as software companies discovered that rapid iteration, frequent experimentation, and a willingness to tolerate failure could dramatically accelerate innovation. This philosophy helped drive the growth of the social media, smartphones, cloud computing, and digital platforms that now underpin modern economic and social life.

Today, that mindset is also influencing federal nuclear policy. The Trump administration views accelerated nuclear deployment as part of a broader competition with China for technological and AI leadership. In that context, it seems willing to accept greater operational risk in pursuit of strategic advantage and long-term economic and security objectives.

I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.

Argonne National Laboratory, located in Lemont, Ill., outside of Chicago, continues to develop a U.S. Department of Energy Packaging University Summer Institute by leveraging the laboratory’s educational resources and workforce development opportunities that support STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). The institute will be open to both professionals in the nuclear packaging field and highly qualified graduate university students who are recommended by their advisors.

Allison Macfarlane

Lake Barrett

In these challenging times of ever-increasing political polarization and strong differing personal opinions, there is hope that diverse points of view can converge to create solutions for difficult problems if we remain focused on the common good.

For us, the common interest is a solution for the broken U.S. program to dispose of the growing inventory of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from commercial nuclear energy. We strongly believe this is critical to support and enable our projected continuation and expansion of safe, reliable, clean, affordable nuclear power to support the needs of our rapidly evolving national and global societies.

The United States has a strong marketplace of ideas on future civil nuclear technology. President Trump wants to see 10 large reactors under construction by 2030 and has discussed making $80 billion available for that objective. Evolutionary small modular reactors based on light water reactor technology are on the market now, and the Tennessee Valley Authority expects a construction permit for a project at its Clinch River Site later this year.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems makes no small plans. The company wants to build a 400-MWe magnetic confinement fusion power plant called ARC near Richmond, Va., and begin operating it in the early 2030s. And the plans don’t end there. CFS wants to deploy “thousands” of fusion power plants capable of accelerating a global energy transition.

For the past several years, the University of North Carolina–Wilmington has hosted volunteer instructors from Wilmington-­based GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy who teach engineering courses and engage with students. This guest instructor program has grown under the guidance of Amy Craig Reamer, associate professor of practice and director of engineering in the UNCW College of Science and Engineering’s Department of Computer Science. Under her oversight, an informal but strong public-­private partnership has been established to the benefit of UNCW students and the wider Wilmington community.

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

I spent a fair amount of time over the holiday break pondering the makings of a good year for nuclear technology in 2026.

Last year was white-­hot. Between the fundamental upward shift in domestic electricity demand, the continuing proliferation of data center projects in all corners of the U.S., the increasingly voracious appetite of the financial markets for nuclear investment, and the Trump administration’s full-­throttle approach to nuclear policy, 2025 will likely be remembered as a significant, positive inflection point in the history of the harnessed atom.

I hope 2026 will be even better, but for it to be so, it will have to be different. It needs a seriousness about it, a scrape of the froth. Advanced nuclear energy technology is in a hardening phase at the moment, where the green shoots of innovation must now grow into robust commercial enterprises capable of scaling quickly and safely. Not everyone will succeed.