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- āļøAmazon, X-energy, KHNP Unite
āļøAmazon, X-energy, KHNP Unite
PLUS: Trump to Make Cold War-era Plutonium Available for Nuclear Power

Welcome to Nuclear Update, the newsletter where power meets purpose.
This is what I got for you this week:
āļøAmazon, X-energy, KHNP Unite
šļøTrump to Make Cold War-era Plutonium Available for Nuclear Power
š¤ÆCFS Raises $863 Million to Accelerate Nuclear Fusion
šøLights, Camera⦠Isotope?
But First: This weekās trivia question:
What type of radiation can be stopped by just a sheet of paper? |
Last week, I asked: What was the worldās first biological X-ray image, taken by Wilhelm Rƶntgen in 1895?
You said:
šØā¬ļøā¬ļøā¬ļøā¬ļøā¬ļø His own chest (11%)
š©š©š©š©š©š© His wifeās hand (59%)
šØšØā¬ļøā¬ļøā¬ļøā¬ļø A frogās leg (25%)
ā¬ļøā¬ļøā¬ļøā¬ļøā¬ļøā¬ļø His assistantās skull (5%)
Now, letās dive into the good stuff!š„

āļøAmazon, X-energy, KHNP Unite
AI isnāt just hungry for data, itās starving for power.
Thatās why Amazon just teamed up with Xāenergy, KHNP, and Doosan to add 4 Xeā100 SMRs to the U.S. grid, starting with a site in Seadrift, Texas.
The Xeā100 is a 320āÆMWt high-temperature gas-cooled reactor fueled by TRISO-X. TRISO stands for TRI-structural ISOtropic particle fuel. Imagine each uranium fuel kernel as a poppy seed wrapped in multiple armor-like ceramic layers. These layers:
Trap radioactive byproducts inside
Withstand extreme heat (1600°C+)
Make meltdown basically impossible
Now add the āXā: TRISO-X is the proprietary version developed by X-energy, tailored specifically for their Xe-100 reactors. Itās designed to run hotter, longer, and safer than traditional fuel. Perfect for energy-hungry AI data centers.
Amazon is not new to nuclear, it already has a 5āÆGW nuclear roadmap. Whatās new is that theyāve roped in two global heavy hitters, supercharging a tech-driven vision into a fully-engineered, cross-border supply chain.
Xāenergy brings the reactor and TRISOāX fuel
KHNP brings proven nuclear operations
Doosan brings manufacturing scale
Amazon brings the demand, finance, and execution muscle
Together, theyāre turning advanced reactors from theory to steel and concrete.
This isnāt concept stage anymore. Itās build phase.

šļøTrump to Make Cold War-era Plutonium Available for Nuclear Power
The U.S. has 20 metric tons of Cold War plutonium gathering dust in bunkers. With power demand soaring, Trumpās team wants to turn a Cold War liability into a 21st-century energy asset.
According to a leaked memo and anonymous sources cited by Reuters, the administration is preparing to offer that weapons-grade plutonium stockpile to U.S. nuclear companies, for free.
This is part of Trumpās May executive order to revitalize the nuclear fuel cycle, rather than bury surplus plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the DOE will issue a call for proposals to recycle the material into advanced reactor fuel.
The plutonium comes from the 34-ton stockpile of surplus plutonium originally slated for disposal under a 2000 U.S.-Russia non-proliferation pact.
With a new wave of SMRs and high-temperature reactors in the pipeline, thereās growing interest in non-LEU fuels, including TRISO and metallic fuels where plutonium can play a role.
If this goes forward, it would be one of the most geopolitically symbolic moves in nuclear fuel history: turning warheads into watts at a time when U.S. energy independence is once again a national priority.

š WNA 2025 Is the Next Catalyst, and We're Covering It in Premium
This weekās World Nuclear Association Symposium (Sept 3ā5) could be a major turning point for uranium sentiment and contracting. It was in 2021. It definitely was in 2023. And this year, the stars are aligning again.
In past WNA years, uranium spot price moved fast:
2021: Spot went from ~$30 to $45+ in weeks
2023: ~$65 to $100 in six months
The key reason? The biennial Nuclear Fuel Report is set to drop. Itās the industryās core roadmap, projecting long-term uranium demand across SMR growth, utility procurement, and global policy shifts. This yearās report could mark the first time SMRs are formally modeled as demand-driving infrastructure.
Thatās the moment hype becomes forecast.
Lucijan (aka @TriangleInvestor) will be on the ground in London at the WNA Symposium, attending meetings, panels, and receptions and writing a Premium-exclusive field report for Nuclear Update members.
Expect a boots-on-the-ground recap of key sentiment shifts, utility contracting signals, and what the worldās largest uranium producers are (and arenāt) saying behind closed doors.
š Want the full post-WNA breakdown?

š¢ Life Under Pressure: Inside a $4B Nuclear Submarine
Ever wonder what itās like to live and work in a metal tube hundreds of feet below the oceanās surface?
In this video, step aboard a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine and get a rare look at the surprisingly organized chaos of life underwater. From stacked sleeping quarters to tight galley kitchens, from torpedo rooms to grooming rules, this is the ultimate deep-sea dorm tour.
Spoiler: the foodās not bad, but the WiFi situation? Not ideal.
Check it outš

š¤ÆCommonwealth Fusion Systems Raises $863 Million
The worldās most credible fusion startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems just closed an eye-popping $863 million Series B2, bringing total funds raised to nearly $3 billion.
That is roughly one-third of all private fusion capital globally.
The money will be used to build actual infrastructure: SPARC, a net-energy fusion demo reactor, and ARC, a full-scale fusion power plant set for Virginia.
CFS technology hinges on high-temperature superconducting magnets, making their reactor design smaller, cheaper, and more power-dense than conventional fusion concepts.
SPARC, their near-term test machine, is already under construction in Devens, Massachusetts and aims to demonstrate net energy gain within a few years. If that goes to plan, the ARC power plant follows, pumping fusion-generated electricity into the U.S. grid sometime in the early 2030s.
The funding round included a 12-company Japanese industrial consortium, Morgan Stanleyās Counterpoint Global, Stanley Druckenmiller, Google, NVIDIAās venture arm, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, among dozens of others.
Hedge funds, banks, industrial giants, state pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and Big Tech are all piling into the same trade: fusion as a viable clean energy solution for the age of AI and power-hungry data centers.
And Google isnāt just investing, itās buying half the electricity from ARC.
Fusionās selling point has always been "limitless, clean power." And now it comes with execution velocity and capital discipline.

āļøFor the Nu-clearly Curious
Historic First: Palisades Transitions Back to Operations Status
On August 25, 2025, the Palisades Power Plant officially transitioned from decommissioning to operational status under the oversight of the U.S. NRC.
This milestone follows the agencyās July 24 approval to reauthorize power operations, making Palisades the first nuclear plant in U.S. history to move from decommissioning back to operations.
With this transition, Palisades is now authorized to receive nuclear fuel and restart the plant once allowable conditions are met within the approved Technical Specifications.
X-energy Signs Agreement To Advance Xenith Microreactor Development For Military
US-based reactor and fuel developer X-energy has signed an agreement with the US DoD defence innovation unit and the US Department of the Air Force to advance development of its Xenith high-temperature gas-cooled microreactor
Indonesia plans 7 GW nuclear power plants as part of long-term energy strategy
State electricity company PT PLN has revealed that Indonesia is set to build nuclear power plants with a total capacity of up to 7 GW by 2040 as stipulated in the draft of the countryās long-term power supply roadmap.
Alberta exploring nuclear to meet growing electricity demand
The province of Alberta has launched a 1-month public consultation to develop a roadmap for building nuclear power plants needed to meet growing electricity demand & secure the next generation of carbon free energy.

šøLights, Camera⦠Isotope?
Welcome back to Atomic Alternatives, where we explore the surprisingly normal places nuclear tech hides in plain sight.
Todayās case? Medical imaging. Every year, tens of millions of people get scanned using a radioactive tracer that was literally cooked inside a nuclear reactor.
Instead of capturing an external image like an X-ray, nuclear imaging goes internal. Doctors inject tiny amounts of radioactive isotopes (called radiotracers) into your bloodstream.
These isotopes are chemically designed to target specific tissues, your heart, your bones, or even a cluster of suspicious cells.
As the isotopes decay, they release radiation from within your body, which gets picked up by scanners like PET (Positron Emission Tomography) or SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography).
Itās like turning your organs into a movie set, except the cameraās rolling from the inside out.
These diagnostic isotopes are typically produced in research reactors, often as byproducts of fission reactions. One of the most widely used is technetiumā99m, which traces its roots back to molybdenumā99, another isotope generated in reactors.
Without these reactors, millions of scans a year simply wouldnāt happen. Thatās why isotope supply is considered a critical piece of national health infrastructure, even if nobody talks about it.

šMeme of The Week

Thanks for reading.
Stay curious, stay critical (like a reactor), and keep glowing š
ā Fredrik
š¬ [email protected]
š nuclearupdate.com
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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research
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