The two reactors at Dominion Energy’s Surry plant are among the oldest in the U.S. nuclear fleet. Yet when the plant celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023, staff could raise a toast to the future. Surry was one of the first plants to file a subsequent license renewal (SLR) application, and in May 2021, it became official: the plant was licensed to operate for a full 80 years, extending its reactors’ lifespans into 2052 and 2053.

Idaho National Laboratory has selected five teams for its Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) Project to develop a sodium-potassium–cooled microreactor designed to test microreactor applications, create regulatory processes, and explore electrical and nonelectrical uses.

A new report from the F4E Fusion Observatory highlights the robust growth of investments in private companies that are developing fusion energy technologies. The report, Global Investment in the Private Fusion Sector, is an updated release of a previous F4E Fusion Observatory report, published “in response to the unprecedented acceleration of investments in fusion companies since June 2025, which are consolidating fusion as a fast-growing emerging market.”

Global funding: According to the report, the cumulative global funding in private fusion companies between June and September 2025 increased from €9.9 billion to €13 billion (about $11.6 billion to $15.17 billion). Funding for the private fusion sector in September was more than eight times greater than in 2020. The report also identifies 77 companies that are in the “fusion private ecosystem.”

The spot price of uranium at the end of November declined to $75.80 per pound, down from $80.00/lb at the end of October, according to uranium company Cameco. The high-water mark this year was in September, at $82.63/lb. The lowest price of 2025 was at the end of March, at $64.23/lb.

This week, BWX Technologies, alongside Idaho National Laboratory and the Department of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office, announced the arrival of a full core of TRISO fuel at INL’s Transient Reactor Test Facility.

Advanced nuclear energy start-up Antares has announced the close of a $96 million Series B funding round, led by Shine Capital with participation from Alt Capital, Caffeinated, FiftyThree Stations, Industrious, and other investors. The round raised $71 million in new equity capital and $25 million in debt for equipment, factory build-out, and uranium procurement.

The Department of Energy has selected the Tennessee Valley Authority and Holtec Government Services to support the early deployments of light water small modular reactors in the United States. The companies will each receive as much as $400 million in federal cost-shared funding to advance their initial SMR projects in Tennessee and Michigan, respectively, including follow-on projects and associated supply chains.

Four public electric utilities—three based in Nebraska and one in Oklahoma—recently signed a memorandum of understanding to form the Great Plains New Nuclear Consortium. The first goal of that new consortium is to explore the feasibility of deploying 1–2 GW of new nuclear (potentially in the form of small modular reactors) within Nebraska.

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).

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

These days, the ship of civil nuclear technology we are all aboard is sailing through a turbulent passage. The winds and currents are favorable, but there are swells ahead: steep energy-­demand projections, buoyant equity valuations, splashy announcements, a generational realignment of nuclear policies and institutional norms.

Part of the reason we chose “Building the Nuclear Century” as the theme for this year’s Winter Conference was to put some ballast in the hull of the nuclear conversation.

Advanced nuclear fission and fusion energy development are accelerating, both here and around the world. And yet, at least in the U.S., we are still years away from connecting commercial Gen IV systems to our grid.

In a world growing increasingly impatient, how do we stay on task and deliver? There are three ingredients to success.