With its new online “Spent Fuel Management: The Inventory Status” tool, the IAEA has provided an important resource for investigating the amount of SNF produced by reactors around the world and how it is currently stored.

The June 22 announcement, along with ongoing projects at Darlington and Bruce Power, further confirm Canada's ambitions to expand its nuclear power presence not just domestically but also abroad. Four pillars stand at the heart of the country’s Nuclear Energy Strategy: new nuclear builds in Canada, maintaining its status as a top nuclear supplier and exporter, expanding uranium production, and continuing nuclear fission and fusion innovations.

HEDI’s research into the behavior of matter at extremely high temperatures and pressures is expected to have applications for future inertial confinement fusion energy projects as well as for basic astronomical knowledge.

Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org

Recently, I spent an afternoon at Kairos Power’s Hermes construction site in Oak Ridge, Tenn. What I saw there was not a rendering, not a licensing presentation, not another panel about the future of advanced nuclear. I saw dozens of pilings built to NQA-1 standards. I saw seismic isolators ready for installation. I saw heavy equipment moving dirt and crews preparing concrete and steel.

I also saw a company doing genuinely innovative work with precast concrete techniques that could materially improve how we construct reactors in the future. None of it looked theoretical. It looked industrial.

The American Nuclear Supply Chain Loans on offer are worth $17.5 billion and intended to help finance up to five projects to build a total of 10 new AP1000 reactors, with construction aimed to begin by 2030.

According to the agency, the sweeping regulatory changes are deregulatory in nature and aimed at accelerating the deployment of next-generation nuclear technologies with a streamlined licensing pathway for nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities and updated requirements for advanced reactor fuels.

According to the company, these milestones make it “the first company in the world to secure the regulatory licenses needed for a fusion power plant” and represent confirmation that it has the needed facilities, trained personnel, and safety programs in place to safely operate its fusion machine.

The DOE celebrated the achievement in a June 18 announcement, describing it as a "zero-power fueled criticality demonstration." The news follows a similar update for Antares Nuclear's Mark-0 reactor, which the DOE said achieved criticality at Idaho National Laboratory earlier this month.

Elementl already has a reactor design in mind, having reached an early works agreement with GE Vernova Hitachi to deploy the company's BWRX-300 small modular reactors. According to Elementl, construction on the first unit could begin in 2030—subject to a final investment decision and regulatory approvals—with an anticipated completion date of 2034.

On June 14, Rolls-Royce, the United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory, and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency announced that they had signed two trilateral memorandums of cooperation to collaborate on “advanced modular reactor (AMR) technology, specifically high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR), and the coated particle fuel these reactors will use.”

Separately, on June 16, Bellevue, Wash.–based TerraPower announced that its Natrium reactor design has been formally submitted for U.K. regulatory review. The company also announced the formation of a new subsidiary, TerraPower UK Ltd.

In early June, SMR developer Blykalla submitted its application to the Swedish government, followed by engineering services firm Studsvik on June 12. And on June 16, energy company Nordic Baseload Power became the latest to apply for financial support. Overall, the Swedish government has received four applications for state aid since last year.

“The facility is initially supporting production of strontium-90–fueled nuclear batter[ies] for undersea applications,” said Tyler Bernstein, Zeno cofounder and CEO. “Zeno is also scoping options as it seeks to rapidly scale production of nuclear batteries for space domains.”

To provide clarity and direction to these and other concerns, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and Department of Public Service issued the preliminary draft of its advanced nuclear policy options paper on June 12.

The team, which also includes Argonne National Laboratory and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, will “analyze and scale vast datasets, rapidly evolve Thea Energy’s plant designs, and stress-test system operation in a workflow that outpaces traditional tools,” according to the company.

The first offering of the course will be held on August 24 in Dallas, Texas, in conjunction with this year’s Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX 2026), the nuclear industry conference hosted jointly by ANS and the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Operational nuclear power sites in China, May 2026. (Source: EIA, with additional data from World Bank, Global Energy Monitor, Global Nuclear Power Tracker, and the IAEA. Image: EIA)

China’s nuclear power capacity has increased from 31.4 gigawatts in 2016 to 58.7 GW in May—an 87 percent increase in the last 10 years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The EIA’s analysis of China’s nuclear power growth was based on information gathered by the agency, as well as data from the World Bank, Global Energy Monitor, Global Nuclear Power Tracker, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. It was published on June 5.

“No one has tested a fusion blanket at this scale. While there are more research and development challenges ahead, a BCTF brings us closer to turning fusion from proven science into practical, sustainable power,” said Anantha Krishnan, senior vice president of the General Atomics Energy Group.

It is the most recent in a long series of announcements from the 10 companies participating in the Reactor Pilot Program, which has a fast-approaching criticality deadline of July 4.

Southern Nuclear’s application was accepted by the NRC in June 2025. The Baxley, Ga., facility’s two boiling water reactors are the second and third units to receive subsequent license renewals under the NRC’s new, streamlined process for renewing operating licenses in 12 months or less. Previously completed SLR proceedings took, on average, about two-and-a-half years.

While he had only about 20 minutes to speak at the gathering, which was also broadcast virtually, Nieh broached several topics with Politico reporter Kelsey Tamborrino, including small modular reactors, licensing, the agency’s recruitment and retention efforts, and the NRC’s status and operations as an independent regulator.

Hash Hashemian

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, how to meet surging electricity demand, and what it takes to sustain American nuclear leadership. The embedded topicals on nuclear fuels and materials and on fusion energy added real technical depth. It was exactly the kind of gathering that reminds us why this community is so remarkable.

That energy and commitment is precisely what I want to channel as I close out my term as president of the American Nuclear Society. Because sustaining it year after year, conference after conference, requires more than enthusiasm. It requires investment.

The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory demonstrated net energy gain from inertial confinement fusion in 2022 using solid-state glass lasers and 192 beamlines.

Released on June 9, the Fusion Science and Technology (FS&T) Roadmap builds on an earlier road map document the DOE released in October 2025, which itself echoed plans issued by the DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences in 2023 and 2024.

According to the DOE, this finalized road map brings together fusion science, technology, infrastructure, workforce development, and commercialization priorities into a single national strategy, outlining how the DOE, industry, universities, and national laboratories will work together to accelerate the path toward U.S. commercial fusion energy.

A provision states that uncontested hearings must be held at some point after 30 days of an application being docketed. Historically, the NRC has conducted these toward the end of its review of applications for construction permits, early site permits, and combined licenses. The change announced this week would have hearings be held sooner, about 30 days after an application is docketed.