Almost every day this week has featured headlines concerning announcements, signings, and progress across Utah’s nuclear sector.

At a glance: TerraPower, Flagship, and the state signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on siting a Natrium reactor; $5 million may come to Camp Williams for General Matter–related site preparation work; and Nusano cut the ribbon on a radioisotope production facility.

The Department of Energy made conditional commitments yesterday to provide high-assay low-enriched uranium to three companies: reactor developer Antares Nuclear; fuel fabricator Standard Nuclear; and Natura Resources, which is backing Abilene Christian University’s development of a small Molten Salt Research Reactor and pursuing a commercial reactor design of its own. Following a contracting process, some of the companies “could receive their HALEU later this year.”

Ranchers in Texas, alongside the U.S. Department of Agriculture, have been bracing for the return of the New World screwworm (NWS), a parasitic fly that lays its eggs in the wounds of warm-blooded animals and, once newly hatched, eats living flesh.

Sukesh Aghara

In an era when affordable, clean energy is as much an economic imperative as it is an environmental one, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has an opportunity to lead not just through legislation but through partnership—between state leadership and its world-class universities.

Massachusetts has long led on decarbonization through electric vehicle adoption, rooftop solar, and offshore wind. We have reduced energy consumption through efficiency investments. From 2022 to 2024 alone, the state’s Mass Save programs facilitated energy savings equal to the annual usage of over 852,000 homes, avoided 684,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, and delivered $2.3 billion in customer incentives. But to meet growing demand and industrial needs, it’s time to invite universities to help craft a bolder vision—one that includes advanced nuclear technologies.

The Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy is setting up a nuclear fuel Defense Production Act Consortium that will seek voluntary agreements with interested companies “to increase fuel availability, provide more access to reliable power, and end America’s reliance on foreign sources of enriched uranium and critical materials needed to power the nation’s nuclear renaissance.” According to an August 22 DOE press release, the plan invokes the Defense Production Act (DPA) to give consortium members “defense from antitrust laws when certain criteria are met” and “allow industry consultation to develop plans of action.” DOE-NE is looking for interested companies to join the consortium ahead of its first meeting, scheduled for October 14.

A recent three-day meeting organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency drew representatives from 14 countries to discuss links between foodborne contaminants like mycotoxins, heavy metals, pesticide residues, and microplastics, as well as such health issues as impaired growth, gut health, hormone regulation, nutrient absorption, chronic diseases, and malnutrition.

Less than a week after the news of Fermi America’s first collaboration for its Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus being built in partnership with Texas Tech University, the company has announced three more industry partners: Parkhill, Lee Lewis Construction, and Westinghouse.

The Nuclear Company, which in April opened its primary engineering and construction office in Columbia, S.C., announced a partnership with the University of South Carolina’s Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, whereby the company will invest up to $5 million in the college over five years. USC is to match the private investment with funds from federal grants, industry partners, and other donors.

The new report “How America Can Achieve Nuclear Energy Dominance,” from the Working Group on U.S. Nuclear Energy Dominance, outlines a plan of action for the Trump administration that includes deploying new nuclear reactors, developing domestic supply chains, promoting nuclear exports, reforming regulations, and developing the workforce.

Working group chair Todd Abrajano said, “We welcome the Trump administration’s bold moves to kick-start the U.S. nuclear energy sector, but we recognize that President Trump’s executive orders alone can’t achieve our goals.”

Navigation engineer Marina Starovoitova has been named captain of a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker, state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom has announced. Starovoitova is the first woman to hold that position, Rosatom said. She was officially appointed on August 20 during a ceremony in Nizhny Novgorod that marked the 80th anniversary of Russia’s nuclear energy industry. The evening event, “Era of Dreamers,” was attended by about 30,000 spectators, including more than 20,000 employees of Rosatom.