Advanced Reactors


Nano Nuclear to receive $6.8 million award from Illinois

October 8, 2025, 10:13AMNuclear News
A rendering of the proposed Kronos MRR at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Image: NANO Nuclear Energy Inc.

New York City–based advanced nuclear technology developer Nano Nuclear and the Office of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced on Tuesday that Nano will receive $6.8 million in state funding to establish its new manufacturing and research and development facility in Illinois.

Oklo breaks ground at INL on Aurora reactor

September 29, 2025, 6:25AMNuclear News
Oklo employees alongside leaders from federal, state, and local government at the ground-breaking ceremony. (Photo: Oklo)

Following the same milestones from Aalo Atomics and Valar Atomics, Santa Clara, Calif.–based reactor start-up Oklo has become the third company participating in the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program to break ground on its fast-tracked project at Idaho National Laboratory.

Valar Atomics breaks ground in Utah

September 25, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News
The golden ground-breaking shovels for Valar’s USREL site are posed dramatically in front of an American flag hung on a Kiewit excavator. (Source: Valar Atomics)

El Segundo, Calif.–based reactor start-up Valar Atomics recently announced that it has broken ground on its test reactor, the Ward 250, at Utah San Rafael Energy Lab (USREL), becoming the second company participating in the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program to do so.

All-European team leads lead-cooled EAGLES reactor project

September 19, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News
IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi (center right) attends the signing of an agreement by representatives of the EAGLES Consortium and the nuclear regulators of Belgium, Italy, and Romania. (Photo: IAEA)

The nuclear regulators of Belgium, Italy, and Romania signed on this week to the first “prelicensing” project under the IAEA’s Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI) during the opening day of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 69th General Conference, pledging to work with the EAGLES Consortium to clarify regulatory requirements for a lead-cooled reactor ahead of formal licensing.

Fermi America looks to go public as NRC accepts COLA for AP1000s

September 10, 2025, 9:28AMNuclear News
Preliminary site map for Project Matador from Fermi America’s SEC filing (Source: Fermi America)

Texas Tech University and Fermi America are now one step closer to realizing their massive vision for the Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus in Amarillo, Texas, as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted the first two parts of its combined license application (COLA) for four Westinghouse AP1000s.

Aalo breaks ground in Idaho

September 3, 2025, 7:01AMNuclear News
Members of the Aalo team at the ground-breaking ceremony. (Photo: Aalo)

Eight days after Aalo Atomics released the details of its securing of $100 million in Series B funding, the company announced that it has broken ground on the 10-MWe Aalo-X. Sited in the desert beside Idaho National Laboratory, it will be the company’s first nuclear power plant, and it remains on track to go on line by July 4, 2026.

Aalo secures $100 million in Series B funding

August 20, 2025, 12:00PMNuclear News
Image: NRC

It was near-certain that more good news was on the horizon for some of the 10 companies recently selected for the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program. Now, only one week later, one of those companies—Aalo Atomics—has become the first to make a major headline with its announcement that it has secured $100 million in Series B funding.

Radiant signs contract on microreactors for the military

August 14, 2025, 7:03AMNuclear News
Image: DIU

California-based microreactor developer Radiant Industries has announced the signing of what it calls “the first-ever agreement” to deliver a mass-manufactured nuclear microreactor to a U.S. military base. The contract was signed with the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the U.S. Air Force as part of the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations (ANPI) program.

BWXT starts building Pele microreactor core

August 3, 2025, 7:48PMNuclear News
Scale model of the Pele transportable microreactor. (Image: BWXT)

Fabrication of the reactor core for the 1.5-MW Project Pele demonstration microreactor has begun, according to BWX Technologies. Pele is being developed at the BWXT Innovation Campus in Lynchburg, Va., for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office.

NEA publishes new SMR Dashboard

July 25, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency has published the third edition of the NEA Small Modular Reactor Dashboard, a comprehensive global review of SMR technology that defines criteria for assessing progress in the development of these advanced reactors. The assessments are based on six dimensions of readiness: licensing, siting, financing, supply chain, engagement, and fuel.

Kairos project moves ahead at Oak Ridge

July 18, 2025, 9:29AMNuclear News
The ETU 3.0 reactor vessel was lowered into position using construction cranes and mounted on a support structure attached to the building’s foundation. (Photo: Kairos Power)

A reactor vessel has been installed by Kairos Power for its third Engineering Test Unit (ETU 3.0) at the company’s campus in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

UM conducts molten salt experiment

July 16, 2025, 9:46AMNuclear News
A schematic diagram of the Shaft Seal Test Facility. (Image: NERS)

For 2,300 hours, the molten salt pump Shaft Seal Test Facility (SSTF) operated at the University of Michigan’s Thermal Hydraulics Laboratory, according to an article from UM. The large-scale experiment was designed to evaluate shaft seal performance in high-temperature pump systems. Fewer than 10 facilities worldwide have successfully operated fluoride or chloride salts for more than 100 hours using over 10 kilograms of material.

NRC dockets TVA’s Clinch River construction application

July 15, 2025, 7:00AMNuclear News
A rendering of the Clinch River SMR. (Image: TVA)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review the Tennessee Valley Authority’s construction permit application for a BWRX-300 small modular reactor at its Clinch River site in Tennessee. The NRC expects to complete its review by December 2026.

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin talks the future of nuclear

July 11, 2025, 12:00PMNuclear News

Zeldin

In a recent interview on New York radio station 77 WABC, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin talked with host John Catsimatidis about the near-term future of the domestic nuclear industry and the role the EPA will play in the sector.

Catsimatidis kicked off the interview by asking if the U.S. will be able to reach total energy independence. Zeldin responded by saying that decreasing energy dependence on other countries, especially adversaries, was a top priority for him and the Trump administration.

Investors line up for Sizewell C

July 10, 2025, 12:01PMNuclear News
A 3D rendering of Sizewell C (second from left) with the existing Sizewell B toward the top right. (Image: U.K. govt.)

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.

More good news for TerraPower on Kemmerer construction permit

July 7, 2025, 7:01AMNuclear News
Concept art of TerraPower’s Natrium plan. (Image: TerraPower)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has whittled down the timeline for reviewing TerraPower’s construction permit application for Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1 in Wyoming. Announcing a new, more aggressive schedule, the NRC said it aims to complete its review by the end of 2025, eight months earlier than originally planned.