Nuclear News

Published since 1959, Nuclear News is recognized worldwide as the flagship trade publication for the nuclear community. News reports cover plant operations, maintenance and security; policy and legislation; international developments; waste management and fuel; and business and contract award news.


Leading the charge: INL’s role in advancing HALEU production

October 24, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear NewsDonna Kemp Spangler
INL researchers inspect a sample from the HALEU purification solvent extraction process. (Photo: INL)

Idaho National Laboratory is playing a key role in helping the U.S. Department of Energy meet near-­term needs by recovering HALEU from federal inventories, providing critical support to help lay the foundation for a future commercial HALEU supply chain. INL also supports coordination of broader DOE efforts, from material recovery at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to commercial enrichment initiatives.

Santee Cooper opts to reboot Summer reactor project

October 24, 2025, 12:01PMNuclear News
In historic photo, one of two unfinished Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at the Summer construction site. (Photo: SCE&G)

The board of directors of South Carolina’s state-owned utility Santee Cooper voted today to approve the proposal from Brookfield Asset Management to complete two new AP1000 power reactors at the V.C. Summer site in Jenkinsville, S.C.

The last days of Hallam

October 23, 2025, 7:00AMNuclear NewsJeremy Hampshire
Sheldon Station (left), a coal plant, and the Hallam power plant, a sodium-cooled, graphite-moderated nuclear reactor. They shared a common turbine generator set. (Photo: U.S. AEC/public domain)

The Hallam nuclear power plant, about 25 miles southwest of Lincoln, Neb., was an important part of the Atomic Energy Commission’s Reactor Power Demonstration Program. But in the end, it operated for only 6,271 hours and generated about 192.5 million kilowatt-hours of electric power during its short, 15-month life.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems partners with Google DeepMind

October 22, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News

Google DeepMind—Google’s artificial intelligence development subsidiary—recently announced a new partnership with fusion start-up Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The goal of this collaboration is to leverage AI to both advance plasma simulation and discover novel control strategies, ultimately accelerating CFS’s timeline to deliver commercial fusion to the grid.

Holtec announces new fuel arrival ahead of Palisades restart

October 21, 2025, 3:02PMNuclear News
The Palisades nuclear power plant. (Photo: Holtec)

Palisades nuclear power plant has received its first fuel shipment, a key step ahead of its highly anticipated restart by the end of the year.

Located in Covert Township, Mich., Palisades will be the first U.S. nuclear facility to restart after being slated for decommissioning. The Crane Clean Energy Center, formerly Three Mile Island-1, is the next decommissioned nuclear reactor to be resurrected, with an expected restart by 2027.

Growing the nuclear talent in Texas

October 21, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News

The University of Texas–Austin has released a report, Cultivating Homegrown Nuclear Talent in Texas: Workforce Development Recommendations for Advanced Nuclear Development, which emphasizes general actions needed for the state to meet the near-term demand for workers in the nuclear industry.

The report was prepared by a group of more than 50 stakeholders from the nuclear power industry, educational institutions, labor groups, and state agencies based on the findings of the 2025 Texas Nuclear Workforce Development Workshop, which was convened at the University of Texas–Austin to align these stakeholders on actionable recommendations.

Three actions: To improve the workforce pipeline, the report recommends the following:

Amazon provides update on its Washington project with X-energy

October 20, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear News
Annotated concept art of the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility, depicting three reactor buildings that each house four units. (Source: Amazon)

A year ago this month, Amazon led a $500 million investment in X-energy, alongside Citadel founder Ken Griffin, the University of Michigan, and other investors. In addition to that financing, Amazon pledged to support the development of an initial four-unit, 320-MW project with Energy Northwest in Washington state.

Update on Zaporizhzhia

October 20, 2025, 12:00PMNuclear News
Image: IAEA

Repairs have reportedly started to restore off-site power to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. About a month ago, the site lost connection to the grid for the 10th time during the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, according to Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Researchers use one-of-a-kind expertise and capabilities to test fuels of tomorrow

May 26, 2025, 9:50AMUpdated October 17, 2025, 4:55PMNuclear NewsCory Hatch
Commercial nuclear fuel rods being unloaded from cask inside a HFEF hot cell. (Photo: INL)

At the Idaho National Laboratory Hot Fuel Examination Facility, containment box operator Jake Maupin moves a manipulator arm into position around a pencil-thin nuclear fuel rod. He is preparing for a procedure that he and his colleagues have practiced repeatedly in anticipation of this moment in the hot cell.

DOE’s latest fusion energy road map aims to bridge known gaps

October 17, 2025, 12:00PMNuclear News

The Department of Energy introduced a Fusion Science & Technology (S&T) Roadmap on October 16 as a national “Build–Innovate–Grow” strategy to develop and commercialize fusion energy by the mid-2030s by aligning public investment and private innovation. Hailed by Darío Gil, the DOE’s new undersecretary for science, as bringing “unprecedented coordination across America's fusion enterprise” and advancing President Trump’s January 2025 executive order, “Unleashing American Energy,” the road map echoes plans issued by the DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) in 2023 and 2024, with a new emphasis on the convergence of AI and fusion.

The road map release coincided with other fusion energy events held this week in Washington, D.C., and beyond.

Industry Update—October 2025

October 17, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News

Here is a recap of recent industry happenings:

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

New international partnership to speed Xe-100 SMR deployment

X-energy, Amazon, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, and Doosan Enerbility have formed a strategic partnership to accelerate the deployment of X-energy’s Xe-100 small modular reactors and TRISO fuel in the United States to meet the power demands from data centers and AI. The partners will collaborate in reactor engineering design, supply-chain development, construction planning, investment strategies, long-term operations, and global opportunities for joint AI-nuclear deployment. The companies also plan to jointly mobilize as much as $50 billion in public and private investment to support advanced nuclear energy in the U.S.

Nano to begin drilling next week in Illinois

October 16, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear News
Image: Nano

It’s been a good month for Nano Nuclear in the state of Illinois. On October 7, the Office of Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that the company would be awarded $6.8 million from the Reimagining Energy and Vehicles in Illinois Act to help fund the development of its new regional research and development facility in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook.

American Fuel Resources requests license for N.M. uranium deconversion plant

October 16, 2025, 12:01PMNuclear News
Image: AFR

American Fuel Resources, a provider a nuclear fuel cycle solutions headquartered in Spokane, Wash., has submitted an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requesting transfer of a materials license from Idaho-based radioisotope manufacturer International Isotopes for a depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) deconversion plant in Lea County, N.M.

OECD NEA meeting focuses on irradiation experiments

October 15, 2025, 3:35PMNuclear News
Meeting participants gather in Idaho. (Photo: OECD NEA)

Members of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s Second Framework for Irradiation Experiments (FIDES-II) joint undertaking gathered from September 29 to October 3 in Ketchum, Idaho, for the technical advisory group and governing board meetings hosted by Idaho National Laboratory. The FIDES-II Framework aims to ensure and foster competences in experimental nuclear fuel and structural materials in-reactor experiments through a diverse set of Joint Experimental Programs (JEEPs).

Hot Fuel Examination Facility named a Nuclear Historic Landmark

October 15, 2025, 9:31AMNuclear News
A side view, cutaway diagram of the original plans for the Hot Fuel Examination Facility. (Source: NN, May 1969)

The American Nuclear Society recently announced the designation of three new nuclear historic landmarks: the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF), the Neely Nuclear Research Center, and the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Today’s article, the first in a three-part series, will focus on the historical significance of HFEF.