The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration announced last week that it has transferred 1.7 metric tons of high-assay low-enriched uranium from Japan to the United States.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted Radiant Industries’ 10 CFR Part 70 license application for its R-50 microreactor production facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and will launch an expedited review that it is aiming to complete within eight months.

According to NRC documents, the agency expects to complete its review of the license application by December 18, 2026. The timeline is described as “accelerated” in the NRC announcement—about 55 percent faster than the typical 18 months for Part 70 application reviews.

Today, commercial microreactors are common in the marketplace of nuclear ideas. Dozens of companies are vying for their designs to reach scaled deployment to meet surging energy demand.

However, the term “microreactor” didn’t appear in Nuclear News until 2019, when the Department of Defense popularized it (in a nuclear context) in the early days of what would become Project Pele. Even before then, however, all the way back in 2005, Toshiba was developing the 4S (Super-Safe, Small, and Simple), a 30-MWt, pool-type reactor designed for remote locations with small grids. Once sealed and delivered, the reactor would run for 30 years with no refueling. If the word “microreactor” had been in use then, the 4S would certainly have been categorized as such.

The Department of Energy announced a 10-year project agreement with the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) to advance research on the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator.

“This agreement reflects our deep commitment to international partnerships that accelerate progress in fusion energy,” said Jean Paul Allain, director of the Office of Fusion at the DOE. “The collaboration between the United States and IPP on W7-X has been extraordinarily productive for more than 20 years already, and this agreement pushes us forward into the next decade and beyond.”

As the United States faces surging electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence, data centers, and a push to bring manufacturing back home, Idaho National Laboratory is leading an effort to modernize and expand the nation’s nuclear power capabilities by revamping the Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program.

Oklo announced a new partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory and Nvidia to perform AI-enabled research on nuclear infrastructure and fuel.

The partnership is focused on exploring plutonium-bearing fuels, including the development of science-based AI models to support fuel validation and materials science and fabrication research and development. The team will also be exploring the development of nuclear-powered AI computing centers at LANL.

Claiming the Department of Energy is backing away from commitments made in a 2023 settlement agreement with the state, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) is proposing revisions to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant operating permit. The revisions would prioritize the disposal of waste generated in New Mexico at WIPP, including legacy radioactive waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy and the National Reactor Innovation Center have announced their first selections for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad: three companies developing microreactors and one developing fuel supply.

The four companies—Deployable Energy, General Matter, NuCube Energy, and Radiant Industries—were selected from the initial pool of Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program applicants, the two precursor programs to the launch pad.

Three research groups are reporting fusion-related developments, including ongoing work toward spin-polarized fusion, a new plasma diagnostic tool heading to the National Ignition Facility, and a materials science project that could impact the design of inertial confinement fusion fuel targets.

Orano USA announced on April 22 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) outlining their cooperative relationship to support the construction of Project Ike, Orano’s planned $5 billion centrifuge uranium enrichment facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The Department of Energy is asking for industry input on the United States’ readiness to produce “up to four space reactors within five years,” according to a request for information that opened on Tuesday.

With a quick turnaround—the deadline for responses is May 5—the RFI asks for an assessment of gaps or challenges related to reactor design, long-lead-time components, and fuel allocation or production.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has spent the past week courting members of Congress to approve his agency’s $53.9 billion discretionary budget request for fiscal year 2027. On Tuesday, Wright spoke before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. On April 15, Wright testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development and Related Agencies. And on April 16, he testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee.

On Friday, two of the four cofounders at Fermi America unexpectedly exited their roles at the company. Those were Toby Neugebauer, former CEO and chairman of the board of directors, and Miles Everson, former chief financial officer.

While both Neugebauer and Everson will still serve on the board of directors, this reshuffling has raised questions regarding the overall stability of Fermi’s flagship Project Matador, which aims to deploy four AP1000s on a massive data center campus in Texas.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy recently awarded about $49.7 million to 10 university-led projects aiming to develop nuclear workforce training programs around the country.

DOE-NE issued its largest award, $19.2 million, to the newly formed Great Lakes Partnership to Enhance the Nuclear Workforce (GLP). This regional consortium, which is led by the University of Toledo and includes the American Nuclear Society, will use the funds to fill a variety of existing gaps in the nuclear workforce pipeline.

A White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum released on Tuesday guides NASA, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense on their roles in deploying near-term space nuclear power.

This follows a series of NASA announcements last month—driven by the executive order “Ensuring American Space Superiority,” issued by Trump in December—including an ambitious timeline for establishing a moon base, which would rely on fission surface power (FSP) to survive the long lunar night at the moon’s south pole, and plans for a nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) rocket to be launched in 2028.

Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), has introduced a bill that would grant the Department of Energy greater authority over new nuclear projects under the federal agency’s oversight.

The Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP) called for the deployment of six 77-MWe pressurized water reactors at Idaho National Laboratory that would provide power to INL and to Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) customers in Utah and surrounding states. But UAMPS and NuScale Power mutually agreed to end the project in late 2023, ending a first-of-a-kind SMR project that was years in the making.

Total project costs, had it been completed, were estimated at $8.03 billion, with $1.36 billion coming from the Department of Energy as part of a 10-year, noncompetitive, cost-share award.

The Department of Energy has continued to roll out announcements of Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) awards for fiscal year 2025. Last week, the agency announced the recipients of 11 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research Phase II Continuation (CINR II) awards, totaling $5.9 million.

University-led teams with current CINR R&D and Integrated Research Project awards are eligible to apply for CINR II awards, which provide opportunities for teams that have performed high-quality work through NEUP-funded projects to propose new projects that complement and enhance ongoing NEUP research.

On Wednesday, Idaho National Laboratory announced that the National Reactor Innovation Center’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed is now “open for business.”

With DOME’s opening, microreactor developers will soon be able to test, demonstrate, and validate their reactor designs. Rian Bahran, the Department of Energy’s deputy assistant secretary for nuclear reactors, called this “essential infrastructure” a “testament to our commitment to a robust nuclear future” and a key tool for “accelerating the development and deployment” of new energy technologies.

Fusion technology company Shine has been issued a conditional commitment for a loan of up to $263 million by the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) to support the construction of the company’s medical isotope production facility in Janesville, Wis.