The core of Pile No. 1 at Windscale caught fire in the fall of 1957. The incident, rated a level 5, “Accident with Wider Consequences,” by the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES), has since inspired nuclear safety culture, risk assessment, accident modeling, and emergency preparedness. Windscale also helped show how important communication and transparency are to gaining trust and public support.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently announced that it has completed its final safety evaluation (SE) for the construction permit application for Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1 in Kemmerer, Wyo. The application was submitted by TerraPower on behalf of its wholly owned subsidiary, US SFR Owner (USO).

The U.K. government’s Office for Nuclear Regulation has granted EDF Energy formal consent to decommission the Hinkley Point B nuclear power plant in Somerset, England. The two-unit advanced gas-cooled reactor was permanently shut down in August 2022, and site owner EDF applied to ONR for decommissioning consent in August 2024.

Sellafield Ltd., the site license company overseeing the decommissioning of the United Kingdom’s Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria, England, has awarded a 15-year framework contract worth up to £4.6 billion ($6 billion) to support “high hazard risk reduction programs” at the site.

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.

Sellafield Ltd., the site license company overseeing the decommissioning of the U.K.’s Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria, England, announced the award of £2.9 billion (about $3.86 billion) in infrastructure support contracts to the companies of Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, Costain, and HOCHTIEF (UK) Construction.

U.K.-based Cavendish Nuclear, a subsidiary of Babcock International, will work with Amentum on the next phase of work supporting the decommissioning of Japan’s Monju prototype fast reactor under a contract awarded by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

Earlier this year, Nuclear Waste Services, the radioactive waste management subsidiary of the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, hosted a group of five teenagers for a week of exposure to real-world work environments at its facilities in Calderbridge, Cumbria. The students learned about career opportunities and leadership responsibilities at the company while they engaged with senior management and performed activities with several NWS teams, including employees in the environmental, waste characterization, cybersecurity, human resources, and geological disposal facility grants departments.

Last week saw a wave of U.S. and U.K. nuclear companies and organizations forging new transatlantic ties, with even the American Nuclear Society and the U.K.’s Nuclear Institute reaching a new agreement.

With President Trump on a state visit to the U.K., in part to sign a landmark new agreement on U.S.-U.K. nuclear collaboration, a flurry of transatlantic partnerships and deals bridging the countries’ nuclear sectors have been announced.

The American Nuclear Society is taking an active role in this bridge-building by forming a reciprocal membership agreement with the U.K.’s Nuclear Institute.

The U.K.’s Sellafield Ltd. and Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company have pledge to continue to work together for up to an additional 10 years, extending a cooperative agreement begun in 2014 following the 2011 tsunami that resulted in the irreparable damage of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi plant.

As the U.K. government looks to finalize investment decisions for the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant this summer, France’s state-owned EDF has announced plans to take a 12.5 percent stake in the project and commit up to £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) in funding.

U.S.-based private capital group Apollo Global has committed £4.5 billion ($6.13 billion) in financing to EDF Energy, primarily to support the U.K.’s Hinkley Point C station. The move addresses funding needs left unmet since China General Nuclear Power Corporation—which originally planned to pay for one-third of the project—exited in 2023 amid U.K. government efforts to reduce Chinese involvement.

It’s a move that “brings to an end decades of dithering and delay, with the government backing the builders.” That’s how the U.K. government announced, with alliterative fanfare, its £14.2 billion (about $19.2 billion) investment in Sizewell C, where EDF Energy plans to build two 1,600-MWe EPRs.

Rolls-Royce SMR has emerged as the United Kingdom’s preferred bidder to build the country’s first small modular reactors following a two-year competition, the U.K. government announced June 10. Rolls-Royce SMR expects to build three SMRs with Great British Energy–Nuclear, subject to contracting later this year and regulatory approvals. Great British Energy–Nuclear will “aim to allocate a site later this year and connect projects to the grid in the mid-2030s.”

The community of Lincolnshire in eastern England voted on June 3 to withdraw from consideration to host a deep geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste. Lincolnshire was one of three communities the U.K. government’s Nuclear Waste Services identified in January as possible hosts for a repository.

A 1960s Electrolux vacuum cleaner was among the more unusual items workers removed from one of the world’s oldest nuclear waste stores at the United Kingdom’s Sellafield nuclear site.

Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.

TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.

Fiona Rayment

Shaping the global nuclear future requires an understanding of nuclear’s role in addressing national and energy security endeavors together with foresight into the energy sector’s future needs. Nuclear typically produces reliable baseload electricity, but it could also play an important role in economically viable cogeneration. In addition, future electricity demand will require significant enhancements to baseload generation. Addressing these challenges requires a combination of innovation, collaboration, capacity enhancements, and focused strategic investments.

Nuclear is increasingly recognized as essential to enabling energy security and achieving net-zero emissions. The United Kingdom has demonstrated leadership in this area, with initiatives such as the Young Generation Network’s global #NetZeroNeedsNuclear campaign at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. Efforts like these are impossible without international collaboration.

Sellafield Ltd. and AtkinsRéalis have successfully operated a robotic dog from a remote location in what might be the first time such an operation has happened at a nuclear licensed site, according to the companies in a March 18 press release.