🎉US: 3 Operational SMRs by 2026

The U.S. is finally moving from PowerPoint decks to poured concrete.

A new pilot program now unlocks private funding and fast-tracks commercial licensing of advanced reactors—with 3 SMRs slated to achieve criticality by July 4, 2026. All three reactors will be located at the Idaho National Laboratory.

US Energy Secretary Wright made the announcement while testifying before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he highlighted the need for speed.

Thanks to new executive authority from last month’s Trump-issued order, the Department of Energy (DOE) can bypass the traditional NRC approval bottleneck and directly greenlight these projects.

“These are reactors that have been talked about for 15 years,” Wright said. “We want to use that authority because our fear is, five years from now, we’ll still be saying ‘soon.’”

While these SMRs won’t sell electricity commercially—since they’re built on DOE land—they can power mission-critical loads like AI training centers, military operations, and grid backup infrastructure.

The reactors represent a proving ground not just for the technology, but for the regulatory fast-tracking that could redefine nuclear deployment in the U.S.

It’s not just a milestone—it’s a blueprint. With electricity demand projected to rise 12% by 2028 and energy-hungry industries like AI and semiconductors booming, these first-of-a-kind deployments could be the tip of a very powerful spear.

📦 TL;DR: Three SMRs will go live at Idaho National Lab by July 2026. Thanks to new executive authority, the DOE is fast-tracking projects without waiting on the NRC. It’s the most tangible step yet in America’s nuclear comeback story.

⚛️For the Nu-clearly Curious

🛒India plans to buy 4x more uranium for nuclear energy
India plans to quadruple its uranium imports to 23.4 million pounds over the next 8 years to fuel its nuclear expansion.

🏛️Asian Development Bank considers lifting funding ban for nuclear power projects
It follows a decision by the board of the World Bank last week to remove its decades-long prohibition on funding nuclear energy as well as policy shifts on nuclear energy from critical shareholders Japan and Germany.

🙌Four European nuclear leaders unite to build next-gen lead-cooled SMR
Ansaldo Nucleare, ENEA, RATEN, and SCK CEN have formed the Eagles Consortium to develop and commercialize the EAGLES-300 — a 350 MWe lead-cooled SMR that runs on MOX fuel.

📜Greek PM opens door to a shift on nuclear power
Greece is going to explore its options for the introduction of nuclear energy, according to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. "When I look at the overall energy developments, I see no way for the world to get to carbon neutrality without nuclear.” 

💪Nvidia Goes Nuclear

The GPU king just went full fission. Nvidia has joined Bill Gates and HD Hyundai in a $650 million funding round for TerraPower, the advanced nuclear startup aiming to power America — reactor by reactor.

Nvidia’s investment (via NVentures) marks its first move into energy — and it’s a strong signal that the tech sector sees nuclear as the core infrastructure for the digital age.

TerraPower’s first plant in Wyoming has already begun non-nuclear construction and is expected to go online by 2030, pending NRC approval in 2026.

The electricity hunger from data centers is getting ridiculous. Zettascale supercomputers might soon need half a gigawatt to run — about as much electricity as 375,000 homes. That’s not a power bill; that’s an infrastructure crisis. The grid can’t handle it, renewables can’t scale fast enough, and diesel backup is… well, not exactly ESG-friendly.

TerraPower’s solution: the Natrium reactor, a 345 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt storage system that can dispatch up to 500 MW of power when demand spikes. Think nuclear battery — clean, dense, always on, and built for the energy profile of modern AI.

🎥 What happens if you swim in a spent fuel pool?

Turns out, you’d be ex-statically fine... unless you touch the wrong tube.

Dive into this brilliant explainer to find out how nuclear pools protect you (and why one guy almost microwaved his hand off):

👇 Watch the video and impress your next dinner party with nuclear trivia no one asked for.

💪France Makes Europe’s Largest Nuclear Investment Yet

EDF and the French government have officially signed off on a €70 billion megadeal to build 6 new EPR2 reactors (Generation III+ pressurized water reactors). It’s the largest nuclear investment in Europe this century.

The agreement includes a preferential state loan (covering at least half the build cost) and a Contract for Difference guaranteeing EDF a floor price of €100/MWh. If power prices fall below that? The state covers the gap. If they rise? EDF pays the difference. It’s nuclear with training wheels — and a stable ROI.

The first site in line: Gravelines, already home to France’s largest nuclear plant. A new task force has launched to coordinate local logistics, housing, jobs, and infrastructure planning.

It’s all part of France’s strategy to ensure that the nuclear renaissance also delivers regional economic benefits — and not just electrons.

The plan builds on a national framework led by the DINN (Interministerial Delegation for New Nuclear Projects) and echoes the approach used in Penly, where another pair of EPR2s are already in pre-construction.

But there’s one last checkpoint: European Commission approval. Brussels will need to sign off on the state aid structure by 2026 before concrete can be poured. Once cleared, it’s full steam (or steam generator) ahead.

🍺 Nuclear Tech Keeps Your Cans Honest

Welcome back to Atomic Alternatives — where we explore the surprising, obscure, and occasionally fizzy ways nuclear tech shows up outside the reactor core.

You might not think “beer” and “radiation” belong in the same sentence — but without nuclear tech, your favorite brew might come up a little… short.

In high-speed beverage factories, where hundreds of cans zip by every minute, there’s no time to shake each one to check if it's full. So instead, producers use gamma-ray gauges — often powered by cesium-137 or cobalt-60 — to measure fill volume in sealed cans and bottles, without opening a single one.

The concept is simple but genius:

• A safe beam of radiation passes through each sealed can

• A detector on the other side measures how much gets through

• If too much passes through? The can’s too empty

• If too little gets through? It’s overfilled

Either way, the misfit gets flagged and kicked off the line. Only perfectly filled cans make it to your fridge — no waste, no surprises, no complaints to the bartender.

This tech works on metal, glass, plastic — whatever the vessel — and it’s faster and more precise than weighing or inspecting each unit by hand.

So next time your soda gives that perfect pssst when opened, raise a toast to nuclear-powered quality control. Just another way atoms quietly keep the world running smooth… and bubbly. ⚛️🍻

😂Meme of The Week

Until next time—stay charged, stay critical (like a reactor), and keep fissioning like it’s 2030. 😎

– Fredrik
📬[email protected]
🔗 nuclearupdate.com