Research & Applications

Nuclear rocket propulsion has been investigated for decades, and NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission carried out significant testing in the 1960s as part of the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application program. NERVA chased the potential of the efficiency and energy density of nuclear thermal propulsion to extend our reach to new space frontiers before the program ended in 1973.

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.

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s International Regulatory Laboratory (RegLab) Project, which brings together experts from across the nuclear field to examine the potential impact of emerging technologies, has released a report on its first cycle that details the outcomes of a RegLab focused on the use of artificial intelligence in real-time monitoring of nuclear power plants.

Participants started out with an initial problem/opportunity statement, from which they developed a use case and a mock safety, security, safeguards, and environmental protection (SSSE) case. Then, over the course of two workshops, participants considered these cases in depth.

Earlier today, Zeno Power announced the completion of the final design review for an americium-241–fueled radioisotope power system (RPS) developed for Harmonia RPS, a NASA Artemis Tipping Point project.

The Harmonia RPS project will now begin the build and fabrication phase. Zeno plans to complete a terrestrial demonstration of an electrically heated system in early 2027 and is aiming for flight qualification for lunar missions beginning in 2028.

A comparison of real SEM tungsten microstructures (left column) with machine learning–generated synthetic microstructures (right) for different values of the model setting parameters. Adjusting the model setting controls how diverse or sharp the synthetic microstructures appear. (Image: ORNL, DOE)

Researchers have developed a model to generate images that serve as synthetic data close-ups of tungsten surfaces under fusion reactor conditions.

Tungsten is a top-choice material for plasma-facing components (PFCs) in fusion machines, so understanding tungsten’s performance is critical to the safety and longevity of component designs.

The predawn darkness on a cool Florida night was shattered by the ignition of nine Merlin engines on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The thrust of the engines shook the ground miles away. From a distance, the rocket appeared to slowly rise above the horizon. For the cargo onboard, the launch was anything but gentle, as the ignition of liquid oxygen generated more than 1.5 million pounds of force. After the rocket had been out of sight for several minutes, the booster dramatically returned to Earth with several sonic booms in a captivating show of engineering designed to make space travel less expensive and more sustainable.

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.

Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory have published a study evaluating the risk of flooding caused by tropical cyclones on coastal infrastructure, including nuclear power plants. The study, published in npj Natural Hazards, used advanced computer simulations of thousands of cyclone scenarios to make projections of potential damage of extreme storm tides in coastal areas—a threat that is expected to increase as a result of climate change. The researchers stated that their projections could be used to make siting decisions and design more resilient systems for nuclear power plants, hospitals, and other crucial infrastructure.

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.

Los Alamos National Laboratory has announced the development of a new type of neutron sensor that works across a wide range of conditions, including in the presence of strong gamma radiation.

The technology is called the Integrated Composite Optical Neutron Sensor (ICONS).

Readers of Nuclear News will have heard of historical applications of civilian maritime nuclear power, like the merchant ship NS Savannah and the USS Sturgis floating power plant. With a few exceptions there has been little action in this area for over 50 years, and there are plenty of reasons and opinions as to why, but over the last few years the dramatic increase in interest from the maritime industry and its stakeholders has been undeniable.

Yesterday, the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced its largest concentrated investment in fusion technology so far, committing $135 million over the next 18 months to fund projects that develop and commercialize fusion technologies.

The agency said it has invested approximately $134 million in commercial fusion since it began funding fusion projects with the launch of its ALPHA program in 2014, so the next year and a half will see a doubling of the agency’s investment in the fusion space.

As researchers continue to seek ways to better understand the plasma inside fusion machines to fully harness fusion energy, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is leading a project to provide new X-ray imaging systems to two international tokamak projects: WEST, in southern France, and JT-60SA, in Japan—both of which are designed to support the development of ITER.

The Department of Energy’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) has recently awarded three second-round fiscal year 2026 vouchers to support the development of advanced nuclear technologies. Each company will get access to specific capabilities and expertise in the DOE’s national laboratory complex—in this round of awards both Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory are named—and will be responsible for a minimum 20 percent cost share, which can be an in-kind contribution.

The University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, in partnership with Nano Nuclear Energy, has submitted a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for construction of a Kronos micro modular reactor (MMR). This is the first major step in the two-part 10 CFR Part 50 licensing process for the research and test reactor and is the culmination of years of technical refinement and regulatory alignment.

The team chose to engage with the NRC in a preapplication readiness assessment, providing the agency with draft versions of the majority of the CPA’s technical content for feedback, which is expected to ensure a high-quality application.

The Department of Energy announced the completion of a proof-of-concept demonstration of the use of Everstar’s AI tool to generate chapter 5 of an NRC license application from preliminary safety documents.

The 208-page document was created by the AI tool in approximately one day. According to the DOE, it would typically take a team of people between four and six weeks to complete this work.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has launched a new coordinated research project (CRP) aimed at creating a database of polymer-radiation interactions in the next five years with the long-term goal of using the database to enable machine learning–based predictive models.

Radiation-induced modifications are widely applicable across a range of fields including healthcare, agriculture, and environmental applications, and exposure to radiation is a major factor when considering materials used at nuclear power plants.

Yesterday NASA announced a series of initiatives, including plans to launch a nuclear electric propulsion spacecraft to Mars in December 2028 and a three-phase plan to establish a lunar base incorporating nuclear-driven heat and power.

Ian Buck, Nvidia’s vice president of hyperscale and HPC computing (left), and Darío Gil, DOE Under Secretary for Science and Genesis Mission lead, at the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference. (Photo: Nvidia)

Department of Energy Under Secretary for Science and Genesis Mission lead Darío Gil participated in a session at the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference on March 17 that coincided with the announcement of the DOE’s $293 million Genesis Mission request for applications, which invites interdisciplinary teams to submit ideas for projects addressing over 20 of Genesis’s stated national challenges, several of which focus on accelerating nuclear research and nuclear energy output.

“We seek breakthrough ideas and novel collaborations leveraging the scientific prowess of our national laboratories, the private sector, universities, and science philanthropies,” said Gil.  

MARVEL, the Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation project at Idaho National Laboratory, has had its preliminary documented safety analysis approved by the Department of Energy, marking a milestone in its development and serving as a potential outline for other microreactors in development.