⚛️TVA Signs 6 GW SMR Deal

The Tennessee Valley Authority just signed an MoU with ENTRA1 Energy to bring up to 6 GW of new nuclear online using NuScale’s SMRs in the largest U.S. SMR deployment program to date.

That’s enough juice to power 4.5 million homes (or about 60 data centers).

ENTRA1 will own and operate the reactors, selling power back to TVA under long-term contracts.

The announcement did not contain a project timeline or financial terms.

NuScale’s 77 MWe VOYGR SMR, a pressurized water reactor, is already NRC-approved, along with the full 462 MW six-pack configuration (a nuclear plant consisting of 6 VOYGRs).

So the tech is licensed and ready on paper, but execution is everything. And TVA’s already exploring GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 at Clinch River. So why double up on SMR vendors?

Simple: demand is off the charts. TVA’s region is growing 3x faster than the national average, thanks to data centers, fabs, and AI. This isn’t about picking favorites, it’s about keeping the lights on. Fast.

If even half of this deal moves forward, it would mark the largest SMR rollout in U.S. history, and a major milestone for NuScale.

TVA’s message is clear: the grid’s future is nuclear, and the time to build is now.

☢️WNA 2025: A Turning Point for Nuclear Energy

The 2025 World Nuclear Association Symposium confirmed what many in the industry have been anticipating: global nuclear momentum is accelerating.

This year’s event in London was marked by stronger institutional alignment, clearer policy support, and a significantly upgraded demand forecast, both for new reactors and for uranium supply.

Here are the key takeaways:

Microsoft Joins the WNA

One of the most notable headlines was Microsoft officially joining the World Nuclear Association. The move reflects a broader trend: major tech firms are increasingly focused on securing long-term, zero-carbon energy sources to power data centers, AI infrastructure, and cloud services.

Microsoft’s entry into the WNA signals that demand for reliable nuclear baseload is now being driven not just by utilities or governments, but by private-sector hyperscalers with significant purchasing power and long-term energy needs.

Fuel Report Forecast: Demand to Triple by 2040?

The WNA’s updated Nuclear Fuel Report projected that uranium demand will double by 2040, and potentially triple under the high-growth scenario.

Key drivers behind this outlook include:

• A growing pipeline of new reactor builds (over 60 currently under construction)

• Accelerated deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs)

• Reactor life extensions in the U.S., France, South Korea, and others

• Broader integration of nuclear into national energy security and decarbonization strategies

On the supply side, the report reiterated concerns about constrained production of uranium, declining secondary supplies, and the risk of future supply-demand imbalances. Several experts noted that long-term contracting activity has increased significantly over the past year, suggesting a tighter market environment ahead.

SMRs Gain Momentum

The conversation around small modular reactors was more concrete this year. Multiple vendors, including NuScale, GE Hitachi, and X-energy, provided updates on licensing milestones, demonstration projects, and commercial interest.

SMRs are no longer theoretical. Projects are entering advanced development stages, with private capital increasingly supporting deployment.

Sentiment: Stronger, More Coordinated

Industry and investor sentiment at WNA 2025 was undeniably bullish. Unlike previous years where the focus was on regulatory delays or financing hurdles, this year’s discussion centered around deployment, supply security, and regional coordination.

The nuclear fuel cycle is becoming increasingly strategic. Investors, policymakers, and corporate buyers are now treating it as such.

📈 WNA Just Ended. Here’s What You Didn’t Hear on Stage.

The 2025 World Nuclear Association Symposium is a wrap, and the message was clear: uranium demand is going vertical.

Lucijan (aka @TriangleInvestor) was on the ground in London covering it all, and his field report for Nuclear Update Premium breaks down what actually matters:

• Microsoft’s quiet move to restart Three Mile Island

• Utilities scouting sites for private SMR grids

• Fuel Report warning: primary supply is tapped out

• Orano’s massive U.S. enrichment announcement

• AI’s role in making nuclear a national security priority

Plus, as always, Premium members get:

• Weekly uranium market updates

• Portfolio performance (+60% since launch)

• Entry/exit signals

• Insider trading alerts

• Equity deep dives with cycle timing

If you're serious about nuclear, this is where the signal is.

🕳️ What’s the fastest manmade object ever created?

What’s the fastest manmade object ever created?

It’s not a hypersonic jet.
It’s not a space probe.
It’s not even a rocket.

It was a manhole cover, launched sky-high by a Cold War nuclear test, and it may have hit 125,000 mph, making it the fastest manmade object in history.

This short video breaks down the weird, explosive physics behind how a U.S. nuke test accidentally created a hypervelocity projectile… and possibly beat Sputnik to space by a month.

It’s part nuclear history, part orbital mystery, and it’s well worth 6 minutes of your day.

Check it out👇

🛢️ Big Oil’s Nuclear Pivot

In a move that could reshape both the nuclear and energy-intensive industrial sectors, a coalition of major industrial players, including oil giants like ExxonMobil, Shell, and Chevron, has launched the Industrial Advanced Nuclear Consortium (IANC).

Unlike utilities focused on grid-scale electricity, this consortium is aiming to bring advanced nuclear heat and power to hard-to-decarbonize industrial sector where high-temperature heat is essential (and few clean options exist.)

The approach centers on standardization: technical interfaces, terminology, permitting frameworks, and project timelines. The goal is to accelerate deployment by reducing friction across the entire project lifecycle: costs, schedules, and regulatory hurdles.

That’s a notable shift. Historically, nuclear has struggled to meet industrial needs at commercial scale, with most projects customized and slow-moving. But now, with oil companies facing pressure to decarbonize, and AI, hydrogen, and global reindustrialization pushing demand, the equation is changing.

Decarbonizing industrial heat is one of the toughest climate challenges. SMRs, especially high-temperature designs, are a strong contender.

Oil and gas firms have deep capital, EPC experience, and site access, crucial for deploying advanced reactors quickly.

The oil industry helped scale natural gas globally. If it now throws its weight behind nuclear heat, it could radically change deployment speed, cost, and acceptance.

The Industrial Advanced Nuclear Consortium may not be flashy, but it’s a critical piece of infrastructure that could quietly unlock tens of GW of next-generation nuclear capacity in the sectors that need it most.

⚛️For the Nu-clearly Curious

Westinghouse Expands Supply Chain with Six UK Companies
Westinghouse have signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with 6 British suppliers to support nuclear new-build projects based on AP1000 and AP300 technologies in the United Kingdom and around the world.

Paris and Berlin agree on an energy roadmap including nuclear power
At the Franco-German Council of Ministers, Macron and Chancellor Friedrich Merz adopted a series of bilateral roadmaps aimed at strengthening strategic cooperation between the two countries. Among the eight validated axes, energy emerged as a central issue, with a specific agreement on recognizing the role of nuclear power in Europe’s energy transition.

INL recommends ending efforts to reduce occupational radiation below 5,000 mrem/year and raising the public dose limit from 100 to 500 mrem/year, still well within natural background levels. There's no evidence linking background radiation to cancer, and society has never attempted to lower exposure from natural sources like radon or food.

⛏️Sinker Bars and the Nuclear Oilfield

Welcome back to Atomic Alternatives, where we spotlight the weird, wonderful, and wildly unexpected ways nuclear tech shows up outside the reactor core.

Today’s excursion? Oilfields.

Specifically, a heavy piece of gear called a sinker bar, and the surprising role depleted uranium plays in helping drillers go deep.

In wireline logging (a process where sensors are lowered down a wellbore to collect data), sometimes gravity alone isn’t enough. Wells are getting deeper, more angled, and more complex. So, to help heavy sensor tools reach the bottom, oilfield engineers add sinker bars, solid rods of ultra-dense material that act like weights on a fishing line.

And when it comes to density, depleted uranium (DU) beats almost everything.

• It’s 1.7 times denser than lead,

• More compact and corrosion-resistant than steel,

• And as a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process, it’s abundant and relatively cheap.

Because DU has most of its fissile U-235 removed, it’s not weapons-grade, and its radiation levels are low, safe enough for rugged industrial use far underground.

DU sinker bars aren’t in every well, but they’ve seen wide use, especially in offshore fields like the Gulf of Mexico and North Sea, where high-angle wells need maximum weight in minimal space.

In those tight spaces and brutal conditions, DU delivers where traditional weights fall short. And because it's dense, durable, and inert, it gets the job done without taking up valuable space in the well.

Ironically, nuclear tech is helping extract the very hydrocarbons it might one day replace.

😂Meme of The Week

That’s a wrap for this week’s edition.

Stay curious, stay critical (like a reactor), and keep glowing 😎

– Fredrik
📬 [email protected]
🔗 nuclearupdate.com