nuclear energy

Antares Nuclear closed a $470 million Series C, seven weeks after its Mark-0 reactor reached criticality, to build microreactors for US military bases.

The Department of Energy selected eight U.S. companies for $94 million in Tier 2 awards targeting site permitting and domestic supply chain gaps for Gen III+ small modular reactors.

Fusion startup Inertia Enterprises signed three agreements with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on April 14, gaining rights to ~200 patents to build a commercial laser fusion power plant.

New Jersey ends a de facto nuclear construction ban while the NRC finalizes Part 53, a landmark rule that streamlines reactor approvals for the first time in decades.

Berkeley-based Deep Isolation has confirmed that high-level waste from spent fuel electrorefining is compatible with deep borehole disposal, completing a multi-year ARPA-E ONWARDS project led by Oklo that could reshape the back end of the advanced reactor fuel cycle.

Federal regulators approved a 20-year license extension for California's last nuclear plant, but state law limits operations to 2030 without legislative action.

Austin-based Aalo Atomics unveiled its completed Critical Test Reactor at Idaho National Laboratory on March 20, built in just 36 days, as the startup races to achieve criticality ahead of the DOE's July 4 deadline.

The second Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris brought four new signatories to the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy, with the EU announcing a 200 million euro guarantee for advanced reactor investment.

Operation Windlord flew Valar Atomics' Ward250 reactor from California to Utah on three C-17s, kicking off an executive-order sprint to power military bases and data centers with factory-built nuclear plants.