⚛️ Google Plugs Six Data Centers Into Nuclear

Google might be about to plug its cloud empire straight into a nuclear plant.

The tech giant is exploring plans to build up to 6 new data centers near the Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC) in Iowa, a decommissioned nuclear site that could soon come back to life.

Local officials confirmed Google’s interest after the company funded a water usage study to evaluate the impact of the project, including scenarios for a restarted nuclear facility or backup gas generation.

Duane Arnold, a single-unit 600 MW General Electric BWR-4 (boiling water reactor), first went online in 1975 but was shut down in August 2020 after a derecho storm severely damaged its cooling towers (it had originally been slated for retirement in October 2020). The plant received federal permission in 2025 to reconnect to the grid, with a potential restart as early as 2028 under operator NextEra Energy.

Google is already in talks with DAEC about potential energy partnerships, a move that would make this one of the first major hyperscale data center clusters co-located with a nuclear site.

It’s ironic: we thought the nuclear renaissance would be driven by decarbonization goals and COP28 pledges to triple capacity by 2050. But in the end, it might come down to something simpler, good old-fashioned capitalism.

For investors: AI power demand is only going one direction: up. Projects like this confirm that the AI boom isn’t just a tech story, it’s an energy story, and one that directly feeds the nuclear renaissance. Wind and solar are intermittent, gas and oil aren’t clean, and hydro is already maxed out. Only nuclear offers the scale, stability, and cleanliness needed to keep data centers running around the clock.

⚙️ NANO Nuclear Brings Microreactor Production to Illinois

Microreactors are officially going mainstream.

NANO Nuclear Energy just announced a $12 million investment to build a manufacturing and R&D facility in Illinois, a major step toward bringing its KRONOS Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) from concept to reality.

Backed by $6.8 million in state incentives from Illinois’ Reimagining Energy and Vehicles (REV) program, the new facility will support around 50 full-time jobs focused on nuclear engineering, advanced manufacturing, and component testing.

The site will work closely with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where NANO is planning to construct the first research KRONOS microreactor, a compact, helium-cooled, 15 MWt (5 MWe) design.

NANO acquired the KRONOS technology earlier this year through its $85 million purchase of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation’s MMR division, and additional demonstration projects are already lined up at Canada’s Chalk River Laboratories once regulatory approvals clear.

For investors: Small and micro modular reactors are one of the fastest-growing segments of the advanced nuclear space. With Illinois putting up incentives and universities hosting early builds, projects like NANO’s KRONOS are proof that the micro side of the nuclear renaissance is gaining real traction. And remember: uranium demand from SMRs and MMRs isn’t in anyone’s supply/demand models yet.

💼 Coming This Week in Premium: Anders’ Uranium Playbook

This week in Nuclear Update Premium, we’re featuring a special guest post from Anders, known on X (formerly Twitter) as @Swedish_Uranium. He’s an investor with 20 years of experience navigating uranium cycles.

Anders breaks down his full uranium strategy, from the “big five” producers driving the sector to the small caps with real torque. He shares his portfolio allocations, ETF rebalancing tactics, and hard-earned lessons from two decades in the trenches of the uranium market.

If you’ve ever wondered how seasoned uranium investors are positioning for the next leg of this bull run, this is a must-read.

👉 Available this Saturday in Nuclear Update Premium.

⚡ The Hottest Place in the Solar System Was in the UK

In its final experiments before being shut down for good last year, the UK's JET reactor set a world record for the energy output of a fusion reaction, reaching 69 megajoules of output for 5.2 seconds. When running, it was temporarily the hottest point in the solar system, reaching 150 million degrees Celsius.

Check out the footage👇

🪨 U.S. Stockpiles $1B in Critical Minerals

The U.S. is going full Cold War on critical minerals.

The Pentagon just announced plans to stockpile up to $1 billion worth of strategic metals as it races to reduce dependence on China.

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is leading the effort, rebuilding America’s national reserve of materials essential for weapons systems, radar, and missile technology.

Recent purchases already include $500 million of cobalt, $245 million of antimony, and $100 million of tantalum, with more on the way.

This announcement follows Beijing’s new export restrictions on rare earths and critical minerals, adding five new elements to its restricted list. In response, President Trump cancelled a planned meeting with Xi Jinping and announced 100% tariffs on Chinese imports, escalating the resource tug-of-war.

The new stockpile program is part of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, which earmarks $7.5 billion to rebuild U.S. mineral independence, including $2 billion for direct Pentagon stockpiling and $5 billion to strengthen domestic mining and refining.

Technically, uranium isn’t on the U.S. Critical Minerals List, not because it’s unimportant, but because it’s categorized as a fuel mineral.

Functionally, though, it’s every bit as strategic. The U.S. still imports over 95% of its uranium, including from geopolitical rivals. Trump’s recent executive orders to rebuild the fuel cycle show that uranium is already being treated as “critical,” just under a different name.

For investors: When a resource makes it onto the U.S. critical list, it gets more than a new label, it gets a mandate. That designation unlocks federal money, permitting shortcuts, trade protection, and strategic stockpiling.

When lithium was added in 2018, the U.S. unleashed a wave of Defense Production Act and DOE funding. Prices exploded from around $10,000 per tonne in 2020 to over $80,000 just two years later (that’s 8x). Money flooded into domestic projects, and companies went from niche suppliers to national priorities.

⚛️For the Nu-clearly Curious

Slovakia announces a deal with US on a new nuclear reactor
Slovak Prime Minister Fico announced the multi-billion-dollar deal during a speech at an annual nuclear conference in the Slovak capital. He said that the new reactor will be built at the existing nuclear plant in Jaslovské Bohunice in western Slovakia, will have an output of over 1,000 MW and be fully owned by the state.

Philippines fast-tracks first Nuclear Power Plant
The Philippines Department of Energy plans to grant pioneer incentives to the first private company to build a Nuclear Power Plant. Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said the DOE has issued a new circular that allows the first nuclear investor to bypass the usual competitive selection process (CSP) in order to fast-track development and ensure the initial project succeeds.

Poland, Nordic and Baltic nations call for nuclear energy expansion
Poland, along with Nordic and Baltic nations, has adopted a declaration supporting the expansion of nuclear energy in a bid to strengthen the region’s energy security: “We, ministers and high-level representatives from Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Poland and Sweden, recognize the urgent need for decisive action to strengthen our energy security and competitiveness while addressing climate change. We also recognize the potential of new nuclear energy investments to contribute to our energy objectives and challenges” a joint statement issued by the ministers read.

Bechtel Expects 10 US Reactor Projects
Bechtel, the engineering giant which has worked on more than 150 reactors globally and 80% of the U.S. fleet, says the U.S. could have up to 10 new large-scale reactors under construction within five years, meeting Trump’s stated goal of a domestic nuclear revival.

✈️ Nuclear-Powered Aircraft

Welcome back to Atomic Alternatives, where we highlight the weird, wonderful, and sometimes downright wild ways nuclear tech has shaped our world, from medicine to moonshots, and this week, mile-high ambitions.

That’s right, once upon a time engineers seriously tried to build nuclear-powered airplanes.

In the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union launched top-secret programs to design bombers that could fly for days or even weeks without refueling. The idea was simple (and insane): put a compact reactor inside a jet engine, and you’d have unlimited range.

The U.S.’ Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program was run by the U.S. Air Force and the Atomic Energy Commission. They built and tested two experimental engines under the “Project Pluto” and “Project NERVA” umbrellas, and even modified a Convair B-36 bomber to carry a functioning nuclear reactor for test flights (don’t worry, it wasn’t used for propulsion).

But here’s the problem: shielding the crew from radiation meant tons of extra weight, and if the plane ever crashed… well, you can imagine how that story ends. The risks outweighed the rewards, and by 1961, President Kennedy shut it down.

The Soviets ran a similar program with their Tu-95LAL prototype, which also flew with an onboard reactor but never achieved nuclear propulsion.

Still, the idea refuses to die. The U.S. military is already exploring it again through DARPA’s LongShot and NASA’s DRACO programs, both aiming to prove nuclear propulsion for long-endurance drones and spaceplanes that could stay aloft for months at a time.

So while you won’t be boarding a “Nuclear Air” flight anytime soon, the next generation of autonomous aircraft might just owe their endurance to the atom.

😂Meme of The Week

Another week, another win for the Atom!

Until next time: stay charged, stay critical (like a reactor), and keep glowing😎

— Fredrik

👉 Haven’t upgraded yet? Join Nuclear Update Premium, where we break down the uranium cycle, macro signals, and portfolio moves every week.

📬[email protected]
🌐nuclearupdate.com