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.

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.

Hash Hashemian
president@ans.org

At the time of this writing, it is only a few days before the American Nuclear Society’s 2025 Winter Conference & Expo in Washington, D.C., which is set to be an unmissable gathering of key nuclear leaders from across the United States and the world. Over the past three weeks, I have been working doggedly to obtain nearly $500,000 in sponsorships and recruit speakers for the conference.

I am thankful for the many generous donors—such as the Tennessee Valley Authority and Constellation—who continue to enable ANS to serve its members, in part by putting on the best conferences we possibly can.

I conducted much of my fundraising and recruitment while I was traveling to represent ANS at various universities, laboratories, and conferences. As I’ve mentioned before, I am focused on developing criteria around where ANS presidents travel to ensure that our resources are spent wisely; I am working with ANS past president Gail Marcus (2001–2002) to develop those criteria now, and in the meantime, I have been judicious in deciding which invitations to accept.

The Department of Energy recently announced that General Atomics has successfully completed the conceptual design of its new helium gas–cooled fast modular reactor (FMR). This milestone moves the company one step closer to a target demonstration in the 2030s.

Here is a recap of recent industry happenings:

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

Agreement signed on advanced nuclear technology in space

Texas-based space technology and orbital logistics developer Space Ocean Corporation and New Mexico–­based space nuclear power systems developer Space Nuclear Power Corporation (SpaceNukes) have signed a letter of intent to explore the integration of advanced nuclear reactor technology into future space missions. Space Ocean agreed to test SpaceNukes’ 10-kilowatt microreactor aboard its ALV-N satellite and, if performance criteria are met, to use SpaceNukes as a core supplier of reactors for future Space Ocean lunar and planetary missions. The companies also agreed to examine the integration of fluid delivery systems with reactor modules, to collect operational data to support technology readiness certification, and to form a joint working group to pursue additional space infrastructure and commercial opportunities.