All posts tagged: reactors

EU strategy to rapidly deploy small and advanced modular reactors

EU strategy to rapidly deploy small and advanced modular reactors

Published by skeptic

The EU has outlined plans to deploy small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced modular reactors (AMRs) by the early 2030s to support climate targets, energy security and industrial growth. The European Commission has presented a new strategy aimed at speeding up the development and deployment of small and advanced modular reactors across the European Union, positioning the technology as a potential pillar of the bloc’s long-term energy system. The plan, published alongside the Commission’s latest Nuclear Illustrative Programme (PINC), outlines how SMRs and AMRs could support Europe’s shift toward climate neutrality while strengthening energy security and industrial capacity. Officials argue that coordinated action between governments, regulators, industry and investors will be essential if the first commercial projects are to come online in the early 2030s. Dan Jørgensen, Commissioner for Energy and Housing, explained: “Small modular reactors are a safe nuclear technology that can contribute to delivering reliable, homegrown decarbonised energy, strengthening industrial competitiveness and reinforcing our energy security. “We are setting a clear pathway for Europe to move from research to concrete projects as soon …

HGP Partners With Shaw To Deploy Navy’s Nuclear Reactors On Land

HGP Partners With Shaw To Deploy Navy’s Nuclear Reactors On Land

Published by Jenni Sidey

HGP Intelligent Energy is partnering with the Shaw Group to deploy U.S. Navy submarine and aircraft carrier nuclear reactors at the DOE’s Paducah, Kentucky facility. Back in December, we covered their initial proposal to the U.S. government to utilize reactors from the Navy in an effort to find the quickest means of deploying new nuclear energy to support AI demand for government efforts like Project Genesis. The U.S. Navy has operated the most successful nuclear program in history with over 7,500 reactor years of safe operation. It is abundantly clear that if there is a way to bring their technology and operational success to other efforts and venues, these possibilities should be pursued. Shaw will be utilizing its previous experience with nuclear projects, including their involvement at Vogtle Units 3 and 4, to advance HGP’s CoreHeld Project through engineering, procurement, and fabrication services. Shaw’s potential scope of work includes “balance-of-plant module fabrication, piping systems, structural components, pressure vessels, and related nuclear-grade equipment.” The Paducah, Kentucky, site has been a hotspot of nuclear fuel chain activity over …

Trump exempts new nuclear reactors from environmental review : NPR

Trump exempts new nuclear reactors from environmental review : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

The Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho National Laboratory. The laboratory will soon be home to five new test reactors being built by private companies. Supporters hope the reactors will power data centers needed for Artificial Intelligence. Idaho National Laboratory hide caption toggle caption Idaho National Laboratory The Trump Administration has created an exclusion for new experimental reactors being built at sites around the U.S. from a major environmental law. The law would have required them to disclose how their construction and operation might harm the environment, and it also typically required a written, public assessment of the possible consequences of a nuclear accident. The exclusion announcement comes just days after NPR revealed officials at the Department of Energy had secretly rewritten environmental, safety and security rules to make it easier for the reactors to be built. The Department of Energy announced the change Monday in a notice in the Federal Register. It said the department would begin excluding advanced nuclear reactors from major requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The act calls on …

Nuclear startups are back in vogue with small reactors, and big challenges

Nuclear startups are back in vogue with small reactors, and big challenges

Published by skeptic

The nuclear industry is in the mist of a renaissance. Old plants are being refurbished, and investors are showering startups with cash. In the last several weeks of 2025 alone, nuclear startups raised $1.1 billion, largely on investor optimism that smaller nuclear reactors will succeed where the broader industry has recently stumbled. Traditional nuclear reactors are massive pieces of infrastructure. The newest reactors built in the U.S. — Vogtle 3 and 4 in Georgia — contain tens of thousands of tons of concrete, are powered by fuel assemblies 14 feet tall, and generate over 1 gigawatt of electricity each. But they were also eight years late and more than $20 billion over budget. The fresh crop of nuclear startups hopes that by shrinking the reactor, they’ll be able to sidestep both problems. Need more power? Just add more reactors. Smaller reactors, they argue, can be built using mass production techniques, and as companies produce more parts, they should get better at making them, which should drive down costs. The magnitude of that benefit is something …

US to fire up small reactors in 2026 as part of ‘nuclear renaissance’

US to fire up small reactors in 2026 as part of ‘nuclear renaissance’

Published by skeptic

Valar Atomics’ Ward 250 reactor under construction Daria Nagovitz/Valar Atomics Despite providing nearly a fifth of US electricity generation, nuclear power in the country has stagnated for decades. Regulatory hurdles, public scepticism and cheaper energy sources led to plant closures, moratoriums and a lack of funding for novel nuclear technologies. But spiking electricity demand – driven largely by data centres – is spurring a nuclear revival, and the Department of Energy appears to be making up for lost time. Its Reactor Pilot Program is fast-tracking the testing of advanced reactor designs, with the first major milestone set for mid-2026. The programme is part of a DOE strategy aiming to quadruple the sector’s output by 2050. Eleven companies developing advanced nuclear reactor technologies were selected to participate, and the goal is for at least three of them to reach criticality – a state where a nuclear fission reaction becomes stable and self-sustaining – by 4 July 2026. “It is deliberately a very ambitious deadline,” says Leslie Dewan, a nuclear engineer specialising in advanced reactor technologies. “One …