Research & Applications

The Department of Energy announced yesterday that it has selected 278 projects under the Genesis Mission request for applications, which opened in March.

According to a White House press release on the same day, $5 billion in federal commitments will be put toward the Genesis Mission.

A tiny ribbon may hold big promise for detecting radiation damage in future tokamaks.

Researchers at the University of Arizona have shown that, when exposed to gamma radiation, graphene nanoribbons exhibit altered current flow from quantum effects while maintaining their atomic framework, suggesting strong potential for use in sensors for monitoring gamma-induced damage to materials and devices in extreme environments, such as fusion machines.

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have patented a magneto-optical sensor, which uses a rare earth crystal and laser light to measure the strength of intense magnetic fields and electrical currents.

“We think this technology is a pretty major improvement in measuring magnetic fields,” said Israel Owens, a Sandia physicist and co-inventor of the sensor. “We think it’ll be essential especially for research in fusion, high-energy physics, and the power utilities industry. We’re really excited about where things are going.”

The trout population in the western hemisphere is getting stronger through the application of nuclear science.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, as part of a technical cooperation project, is equipping laboratories and training specialists in nine countries to better deal with the infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) in rainbow trout.

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have reported evidence that small adjustments to a material’s atomic-level ordering can significantly affect the rate and extent of corrosion, even with identical baseline chemical compositions.

For the study, published recently in Corrosion Science, the team ran simulations for nichrome-based alloys, which have excellent strength, creep resistance, and tolerance to radiation-induced degradation, making them top candidates for use in molten salt reactors and other advanced energy systems.

A new irradiation experimental system is ready for deployment. The rig, which is the focus of In-Core Real-Time Mechanical Testing of Structural Materials (INCREASE-I), an OECD Nuclear Energy Agency project, will be used to conduct stress-relaxation tests of stainless steel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Reactor (MITR), according to the OECD NEA.

The remote, automatic, real-time adjustment of a research reactor’s power by a geographically distributed control system has been reported by researchers from Idaho National Laboratory, the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, and Purdue University. The investigators first used an automatic adjustment “digital control loop” system to demonstrate remote adjustments of Purdue’s PUR-1 research reactor. They then applied a reinforcement learning model that simulates the interaction of physical forces inside the reactor, making the loop system more autonomous.

Researchers have reported using a combination of quantum and classical computing to calculate chemistry connected to tritium speciation in a FLiBe—lithium fluoride and beryllium fluoride—molten salt blanket, demonstrating a promising direction for unlocking tritium breeding in fusion machines.

On July 1, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed removing the “as low as reasonably achievable” (ALARA) principle from its radiation protection regulations and replacing it with a graded approach. The agency also proposed increases to effluent dose limits and adjusting how it handles allowances for exceeding dose limits.

On July 7, SpaceX launched Transporter-17, a smallsat rideshare mission containing 81 payloads. One of the payloads was the Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability (BOHR) satellite developed by City Labs.

According to the company, BOHR is “the world’s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite and first nuclear CubeSat.” The spacecraft also broke new ground in the regulatory process for launch approval for commercial nuclear projects.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected seven teams for its Rads to Watts program, setting off a competition to design radiovoltaic cells capable of providing power in extreme environments such as deep sea and space.

The teams are now working on developing a unit cell, simple demonstrations that their design ideas work. These are expected to be low power but capable of being scaled up into a higher-power array.

Realta Fusion announced it has achieved direct energy conversion at the Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror (WHAM), powering a lightbulb using electricity extracted from charged particles emitted by the plasma.

This process, called direct energy conversion (DEC), was theorized by Richard Post, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and has been demonstrated experimentally a few times, the earliest being the “Venetian blind” converter in the 1970s.

NASA has announced that it will release a solicitation related to lunar surface power this month and that it is considering sending a rover powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) to the moon.

New calculations by scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory suggest that changing the polarization of the National Ignition Facility’s lasers could reduce backscatter, an effect that can make an optic unusable after a single shot.

The Department of Energy’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear has recently awarded four third-round fiscal year 2026 vouchers to support the development of innovative nuclear technologies. Each company will get access to specific capabilities and expertise in the DOE’s national laboratory complex—in this round of awards Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories are named—and will be responsible for a minimum 20 percent cost share, which can be an in-kind contribution.

Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced the launch of a coordinated research project focused on a nuclear technique that can tackle the reemergence of New World screwworm (NWS) in Central America, Mexico, and the United States.

Zeno Power announced today that it is restoring hot cell infrastructure at the Vallecitos Nuclear Center to produce radioisotope power systems (RPSs) for use in extreme environments.

“The facility is initially supporting production of strontium-90–fueled nuclear batter[ies] for undersea applications,” said Tyler Bernstein, Zeno cofounder and CEO. “Zeno is also scoping options as it seeks to rapidly scale production of nuclear batteries for space domains.”

Thea Energy has announced it is working with Nvidia and Synopsys to develop a digital twin of its stellarator fusion power plant concept, called Helios.

The team, which also includes Argonne National Laboratory and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, will “analyze and scale vast datasets, rapidly evolve Thea Energy’s plant designs, and stress-test system operation in a workflow that outpaces traditional tools,” according to the company.

On June 3, Brandon Williams, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, was at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to break ground on the Advanced Testbed and Operations Learning Laboratory (ATOLL).

The planned 21,000-square-foot facility, which is scheduled to be completed in mid-2028, will play an important role in the development of workforce expertise and capabilities aimed at monitoring foreign weapons-grade uranium production activities.

Maritime classification and certification organization the American Bureau of Shipping has granted its approval in principle (AIP) for the integration of a nuclear reactor into a cargo vessel propulsion system, as developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Maritime Consortium. This is the first AIP to be granted to a technology developed through the consortium, which includes founding members MIT, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, and Capital Maritime Group.