SMR

A digital twin built on NVIDIA Omniverse aims to compress site-specific design for TerraPower's Natrium reactor from 18 months to as little as eight weeks.

The startup tapped an established nuclear EPC firm for above-ground construction of a 15 MWe reactor designed to sit a mile underground, where the water column supplies its operating pressure.

X-energy priced its IPO at $23 a share on April 24, raising $1.02 billion — the largest nuclear IPO on record — as shares surged 36% on debut.

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.

Ontario Power Generation has placed the foundation module for the first BWRX-300 small modular reactor at Darlington, clearing the construction licence's first hold point and beginning above-ground reactor work on what is on track to be the G7's first commercial SMR.

Rolls-Royce SMR and Czech utility ČEZ signed an early works contract on April 24 to begin design, licensing and site work for the country's first small modular reactor at Temelín, targeting up to 3 GW of capacity and grid connection in the late 2030s.

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.

At an April 16 House Appropriations hearing, Energy Secretary Chris Wright pledged that the first five to ten new planned US nuclear reactors will almost certainly receive financing from the DOE lending office, directing the agency's renamed loan authority toward first-of-a-kind projects.

Great British Energy-Nuclear and Rolls-Royce SMR signed a contract on April 13 to begin design and delivery of three 470 MW pressurised water reactors at Wylfa in North Wales, targeting grid connection by the mid-2030s.

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 US and Japan unveiled a $40 billion plan to build BWRX-300 small modular reactors in Tennessee and Alabama, weeks after the NRC granted TerraPower a historic advanced reactor permit.