Southern Nuclear is leading the charge in artificial intelligence integration, with employee-developed applications driving efficiencies in maintenance, operations, safety, and performance.

The tools span all roles within the company, with thousands of documented uses throughout the fleet, including improved maintenance efficiency, risk awareness in maintenance activities, and better-informed decision-making. The data-intensive process of preparing for and executing maintenance operations is streamlined by leveraging AI to put the right information at the fingertips for maintenance leaders, planners, schedulers, engineers, and technicians.

Urenco USA has highlighted the completion of a successful year of advancing nuclear fuel supply in the U.S. by achieving two new milestones this month: The first production of enriched uranium above 5 percent uranium-235, and the startup of the company’s next cascade of centrifuges as part of its capacity installation program.

Trump Media & Technology Group, the American media and technology company majority owned by President Trump, and California-based fusion company TAE Technologies, announced on Thursday the signing of a definitive merger agreement to combine in an all-stock transaction valued at more than $6 billion.

Progress in the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program continues as Natura Resources has executed an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) with the DOE for the company’s Molten Salt Research Reactor being pursued in close collaboration with Abilene Christian University (ACU) in Texas. Reactor projects participating in the program would progress through DOE authorization and oversight rather than Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing.

Three commercial power reactors across two Illinois nuclear power plants—Constellation’s Clinton and Dresden—have had their licenses renewed for 20 more years by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Electric Power Research Institute has launched a global initiative to prepare future grids by modernizing how the electricity-generating sector detects, anticipates, and responds to emerging risks and manages technological transformation. The nonprofit energy research and development organization intends for the initiative, called Rapid Adaptation of Grid Defense, Analytics, and Resilience (RADAR), to provide a scalable framework, advanced tools, and targeted training for strengthening grid resilience and reliability.

Fusion technology company Thea Energy announced this week that it has completed the preconceptual design of its fusion power plant, called Helios. According to the company, Helios is “the first stellarator fusion power plant architecture that is realistic to build and operate with hardware that is available today, and that is tolerant to the rigors of manufacturing, construction, long-term operation, and maintenance of a commercial device.”

The Department of Energy Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security (EHSS) held its annual meeting this month with the government of the Marshall Islands. The two-and-a-half-day meeting, in Honolulu, Hawaii, focused on ongoing cooperative efforts and programs related to the legacy of U.S. nuclear weapons testing from the 1940s and 1950s. The United States began cleanup operations on the islands in the 1970s.

France’s state-owned electric utility EDF has announced that Flamanville-3—the country’s first EPR—reached full nuclear thermal power for the first time, generating 1,669 megawatts of gross electrical power. This major milestone is significant in terms of both this project and France’s broader nuclear sector.

Cornyn

Padilla

Sens. Alex Padilla (D., Calif.) and John Cornyn (R., Texas) have introduced bipartisan legislation to formally establish the Office of Fusion at the Department of Energy. This move seeks to codify one of the many changes put forward by the recent internal reorganization plan for offices at the DOE.

Companion legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Reps. Don Beyer (D., Va.) and Jay Obernolte (R., Calif.), who are cochairs of the House Fusion Energy Caucus.

Details: According to Obernolte, “Congress must provide clear direction and a coordinated federal strategy to move fusion from the lab to the grid, and this legislation does exactly that.”