Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah are the finalists to potentially host Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses, the Department of Energy announced today.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has signed memorandums of understanding with the five states to continue exploring opportunities to host these campuses, envisioned as federal–state partnerships to support work across the nuclear fuel life cycle, with a primary focus on fuel fabrication, enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing or recycling, separations, and radioactive waste management.

Nuclear fuel manufacturer Standard Nuclear is describing “construction and regulatory approval milestones” for two TRISO fuel production facilities that are both under construction. The company reports that construction is “substantially complete” for both the SN-TN (in Tennessee) and SN-ID (in Idaho) sites and that the Department of Energy has approved the preliminary documented safety analyses (PDSAs) for both facilities.

Standard Nuclear is participating in the DOE’s Fuel Line Pilot Program and Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program, and is also among the companies receiving HALEU from the DOE for use in their fuel production or reactor programs.

X-energy subsidiary TRISO-X has received an economic development grant valued at $11 million from Tennessee’s Nuclear Energy Supply Chain Investment Fund, which was established in 2023 to “support nuclear energy business investment, workforce development programs, and site development across Tennessee.” The grant will be used for the ongoing construction of TRISO-X’s fuel fabrication campus at the Horizon Center Industrial Park in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

On June 9, Tennessee became the first U.S. state to implement its own regulatory framework for nuclear fusion machines. It’s a notable step in the rapidly developing field of fusion regulation, and will help Tennessee prepare to regulate Type One Energy’s proposed commercial fusion power plant near Oak Ridge.

On Tuesday, during Mark Peters’s last days as the American Nuclear Society’s vice president/president-elect before assuming the presidency on June 4, he sat down with ANS CEO Craig Piercy for a Fireside Chat at the Annual Conference.

The MITRE CEO weighed in on his career path, what excites and worries him about the resurgence of nuclear energy, and juggling work-life balance with his new duties as ANS’s 72nd president.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s an important year,” he told Piercy.

Eight companies will collectively receive more than $94 million in cost-share funding to expedite the near-term deployment of small light water modular reactors, the Department of Energy announced Thursday.

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 is the Department of Energy’s deadline for states to respond to a request for information on proposed Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses. Issued on January 28, the RFI marks the first step toward potentially establishing voluntary federal-state partnerships designed to build a coherent, end-to-end nuclear fuel cycle strategy for the country, including waste management, according to the DOE.

Coinciding with the March 19 White House meeting between President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, the Department of Commerce announced three new energy deals as part of a Japan-U.S. Strategic Investment initiative. Two of the deals involve the construction of natural gas generation facilities. The third, with an estimated value of as much as $40 billion, involves the construction of GE Vernova Hitachi (GVH) BWRX-300 small modular reactors in Tennessee and Alabama.

Hash Hashemian
president@ans.org

From kindergarten classrooms to national security facilities, each event I attended during the opening weeks of the new year underscored one truth: The future of nuclear energy depends on the people we inspire, educate, and empower today.

I had a busy start to 2026, first speaking at the Nashville Energy and Mining Summit alongside Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association senior vice president Justin Maierhofer to explore the necessary synergies among policy, academic coursework, research, and industry expertise in accelerating American nuclear innovation. Drawing on experiences in high-level government relations and public affairs and decades of work in nuclear instrumentation advancements, we discussed Tennessee’s nuclear renaissance, workforce development, and policy frameworks that support emerging energy demands.

Centrus Energy Corp. is planning a major expansion of its Oak Ridge, Tenn., Technology and Manufacturing Center. The build-out would allow it to expedite large-scale deployment of centrifuges.

Amir Vexler, Centrus president and CEO, announced the expansion on January 23, along with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Deputy Gov. Stuart McWhorter.

Yesterday, Oak Ridge National Laboratory announced that it is in the process of partnering with Type One Energy and the University of Tennessee–Knoxville. That partnership will have one primary goal: to establish a high-heat flux facility (HHF) at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Energy Complex in Clinton, Tenn.

On January 16, Tenn. Gov. Bill Lee, Deputy Gov. Stuart McWhorter, and officials from Laser Isotope Separation Technologies announced the company’s plans to expand in Oak Ridge, Tenn. That expansion will come with a $1.38 billion investment from LIS Technologies for what the company says will be the first commercial laser uranium enrichment plant in the United States.

The Smithsonian-affiliated American Museum of Science & Energy in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is partnering with the East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC) to celebrate Nuclear Science Week from Monday, October 20, to Friday, October 24.

Radiant Industries will build its first portable nuclear reactor at the site of the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The land for Radiant’s new factory includes portions of the K-27 and K-29 Manhattan Project sites. The company plans to test Kaleidos, a 1-MW nuclear microreactor, in 2026, with first deployments expected soon after.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has issued a letter of intent to fusion energy start-up Type One Energy regarding the utility’s interest in the potential deployment of Type One Energy’s fusion power plant technology at TVA’s former Bull Run fossil plant site once it is commercially ready.

ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy’s reflection on the 80th anniversary of the Trinity Test (Nuclear Newswire, July 16) was a thoughtful and fitting remembrance of the achievements and legacy of the World War II generation of nuclear pioneers. We also see legacy environmental cleanup as a vital next step as our industry launches what Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has defined as “Manhattan Project 2.0.”

Wright

Energy Secretary Chris Wright testified before the U.S. Senate’s Energy and Water Development Subcommittee yesterday to discuss how the Department of Energy would be impacted by the president’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget.

The meeting highlighted concerns from lawmakers about the DOE’s spending and efficiency—pointing to the rise in the department’s budget from $61 billion in FY 2021 to $160 billion last year.

Committee chair John Kennedy (R., La.) called the DOE spending pattern “unsustainable.”

“The average electricity bill . . . for the average American family over the past four years is up 28 percent. That’s the first thing they care about,” Kennedy said. “We’ve got to address it . . . and talk very specifically about what programs are working and what isn’t.”

In a historic photo, students gather at the Oak Ridge high school in Tennessee. (Photo: DOE)

The Tennessee legislature has approved a $3.2 million proposal to fund a monument that will honor a group of 85 black former students known as the Scarboro–Oak Ridge 85 who, with support from the Atomic Energy Commission, became the first students to enter a previously white-only public school in the southeastern United States.

"We want to make sure that Oak Ridge and the Scarboro 85 get their rightful place in the civil rights history timeline; we do not want to be left out," said John Spratling, chair of the Scarboro 85 Monument Committee.

ANS recognition: The American Nuclear Society officially recognized and honored the Scarboro 85 in 2021 by awarding the group with the inaugural Social Responsibility in the Nuclear Community Award at that year’s Annual Winter Meeting.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week shared a portion of the construction permit application from the Tennessee Valley Authority to build a small modular reactor at the Clinch River nuclear site in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

In anticipation of TVA’s filing, NRC staff scheduled two public meetings in Oak Ridge for today, to discuss the agency’s process for licensing nuclear power plants.