Our Neighborhood

Earth

Keeping It Green

The Pros and Cons
of Nuclear Energy

Don't let the PROS CON you!

Page Updated:
Feb. 9, 2026

• Nuclear Industry News

Nuclear News Stories

Read the latest news stories on nuclear power

What went right - and what went WRONG?

Click now for that section on this page.

• Nuclear Plant
Accident Timeline

Events to Make You
Distrust Nuclear Power:

Read the BBC account of the varous nuclear accidents beginning in 1957.

Click now to learn more.

• • Nuclear Startup Terrapower Is Moving Fast

  Some Say Too Fast
  
  {E&E NEWS}
  
  

  Feb 6, 2026 -The people of Kemmerer, Wyoming, braced for the worst when the owner of the town’s coal-fired power plant scheduled its closure in 2020. Jobs would disappear, along with tax revenue.

  Then came TerraPower, an advanced nuclear company based out of Bellevue, Washington, that needed a place to build. TerraPower pitched itself to local officials as future employment for the power plant workers about to lose their jobs.

  Instead of closing the power plant, its owner, PacifiCorp, is retrofitting it to burn natural gas. And TerraPower is charging ahead with plans to build the first small U.S. nuclear reactor of its kind close by, with the support of local officials in western Wyoming.

• • DOE Prepares to Send Nuclear Waste Cross-Country

  A 180-Ton Lead and Steel Cask Containing Spent Nuclear Fuel Will Cross 13 States and Travel More Than 2,500 Miles
  
  {E&E News}
  
  

  Feb 5, 2026 -A rail journey years in the making will pull away from Dominion Energy’s North Anna nuclear plant in Virginia in the fall of 2027 bound for Idaho National Laboratory.

  Aboard a specially designed railcar will be a 180-ton lead and steel cask containing spent nuclear fuel. The trip crossing 13 states and traveling more than 2,500 miles will be the first shipment of spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors in more than two decades.

• • The Fukushima Towns Frozen In Time:
  Nature Has Thrived Since the Nuclear Disaster

  But What Happens If Humans Return?

  
  

  Jan. 27, 2026, -Norio Kimura pauses to gaze through the dirt-flecked window of Kumamachi primary school in Fukushima. Inside, there are still textbooks lying on the desks, pencil cases are strewn across the floor; empty bento boxes that were never taken home.

  Along the corridor, shoes line the route the children took when they fled, some still in their indoor plimsolls, as their town was rocked by a magnitude-9 earthquake on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 which went on to cause the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chornobyl.

• • New York Extends Billions in Subsidies
  For Nuclear Plants in Upstate NY

  New York is Locked Into Nuclear Power For 20 More Years
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan. 22, 2026 -State regulators voted unanimously to extend subsidies for four Constellation-owned reactors, ensuring the plants—which generate 21% of New York's electricity—keep running through 2049 rather than retiring at decade’s end.

  The price tag could reach $33B over 20 years, though the Public Service Commission estimates the actual cost will be half that as federal tax credits and rising wholesale power prices offset the subsidies.

• • Tepco Halts Atomic Reactor Amid Issue With Milestone Restart

  Japan’s Nuclear Revival Hit Another Snag
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan. 22, 2026 -Tepco is shutting down its No. 6 reactor at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant—the world’s largest nuclear power plant—just one day after restarting it, following the discovery of a defect in the control rod monitoring system.

  Why it matters: The restart was intended to be a turning point for Japan's energy policy, signaling a full return to nuclear power. Instead, it highlights the technical and reputational fragility still haunting the sector.

• • China’s “Artificial Sun” Just Smashed a Key Fusion Barrier

  And Physics May Never Be the Same

  
  

  Jan. 14, 2026 - Fusion physicists have always been haunted by a ghost in the machine known as the Greenwald limit. It’s a frustratingly empirical ceiling: try to cram too much plasma into your magnetic donut (tokamak), and the whole thing goes haywire, effectively killing the reaction.

  But on January 1, researchers working on China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak(EAST) — often dubbed the “artificial sun” — announced something remarkable. They hadn’t just broken this rule; they may have rewritten the playbook for how we build stars on Earth.

• • Hochul Wants More Nuclear Power in New York

  The Governor’s State of the State Address Also Focused on Lowering Utility Rates. Discussion of the State’s Climate Act Was Notably Absent

  
  

  Jan. 14, 2026 -During her State of the State address this week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that she will push to invest more funds into nuclear energy, calling it “a vital part of our all-of-the-above approach to energy.”

  The development of nuclear energy is a divisive issue among climate advocates in the state. Nuclear power plants do not pollute while operating and can operate continuously, unlike renewables, which are dependent on wind or sunshine. But the waste that the plants generate can be very radioactive and pose a threat to humans long after these facilities close.

• • Supreme Court Rejects Appeals On Nuclear Waste Storage & More

  It Rejected Appeals On Nuclear Waste Storage and Utility Monopolies
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan. 12, 2026 -The justices denied Beyond Nuclear v. NRC, declining to review a challenge to the NRC’s authority to license consolidated interim storage facilities—a major defeat for environmental groups seeking to block private radioactive waste sites like the Holtec project in New Mexico.

  The Court also refused to hear Duke Energy Carolinas v. NTE Carolinas II, leaving intact a lower court decision in a high-stakes antitrust lawsuit where the independent power producer accused the utility giant of using its monopoly power to sabotage a rival generation project.

• • Meta Unveils Nuclear Deals With Vistra, Terrapower, Oklo

  Deploying a “Barbell Strategy” For Nuclear Power
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan. 11, 2026 -Meta is locking in long-term agreements tied to existing Vistra nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania, ensuring immediate baseload for its data centers in the constrained PJM market.

  Plus: Meta is funding next-gen tech by providing crucial commitments that allow TerraPower (targeting 690 MW by 2032) and Oklo (targeting 1.2 GW by 2030) to raise the billions they need to build their first commercial fleets.

• • Nuke Industry Pushes Overhaul of Reagan-Era Law

  The Nuclear Industry is Pressing Congress to Update That Law
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan. 8, 2026 -The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act assumed all spent nuclear fuel would be buried and forgotten, but today’s advanced reactor companies want to recycle and reuse it—something the law never contemplated.

  Why it matters: With companies like Oklo, Curio, and SHINE Technologies pushing fuel-recycling approaches, industry leaders argue the legal framework is now their biggest bottleneck—not the technology itself.

• • Watchdog Halts Nuclear Plant Safety Review
  After Seismic Data Found to be Fabricated

  A Setback For Japan’s Nuclear Ambitions
  
  {energycentral}
  
  

  Jan. 7, 2026 -The reasoning? The plant's operator reportedly supplied years’ worth of fabricated data that underestimated earthquake risks.

  The decision forces the utility, Chubu Electric Power Co., to restart the approval process from scratch, dealing a major blow to the government’s push to bring its idle nuclear fleet back online to cut energy costs and emissions.

• • Nvidia and Siemens Reveal Fusion
  Energy Partnership at CES 2026

  Nvidia, Siemens, and Commonwealth Fusion Systems Took to the CES Main Stage to Announce a Nuclear Fusion Partnership
  
  {energycentral}
  
  

  Jan. 7, 2026 -The trio is using Nvidia’s AI infrastructure and Siemens' industrial data to create a virtual replica of Commonwealth’s SPARC prototype fusion power plant, which is currently 70% complete in Massachusetts.

  By testing scenarios in the digital twin, the group hopes to compress years of manual experimentation into weeks, accelerating the timeline for fusion to power the AI boom.

• • Optimism About Nuclear Energy Is Rising Again

  Will It Last?
  
  
  

  Jan. 6, 2026 -Once a home of the Manhattan Project, the fields surrounded by forested valleys and rolling hills in Oak Ridge, Tenn., could soon yield another nuclear first.

  Concrete foundations and pilings are rising here for what is expected to be one of the first of a new generation of nuclear power plants, known as small modular reactors. The company behind it, Kairos Power, has been developing its technology for almost a decade and is now deep in the throes of construction

• • Duke Energy Files First Application For
  Potential New Nuclear Reactors in North Carolina

  Duke Energy Filed an Application to Build North Carolina’s First New Nuclear Reactor Since the 1980s
  
  {energycentral}
  
  

  Jan. 5, 2026 -Duke aims to reuse the existing Belews Creek coal plant and workforce to secure sizable federal tax credits (and take a key step toward its net-zero goals).

  Duke submitted a “technology-neutral” early site permit for the project, allowing it to clear an 18-month safety review now while waiting to see which SMR designs mature best over that period.

• • Nuclear Industry Year-End Outlook 2025

  Nuclear Generation Hit New Records - and Locked In Momentum
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Dec. 24, 2025 -Global nuclear generation set an all-time high in 2024 and is on track to exceed it again in 2025. This is not a rebound but a structural shift, enabled by stronger performance across existing fleets, renewed and sustained reinvestment in operating assets, and new reactors entering service. Nuclear is re-establishing itself as a growth engine rather than a legacy stabiliser.

  Life extension moved from a technical exercise to a capital-allocation priority. Across markets, operators advanced long-term operation programmes, fuel and materials optimisation, and regulatory-aligned investment strategies. LTO is now recognised as the fastest and lowest-risk route to securing firm, low-carbon electricity this decade, and it remains the essential bridge to future new build.

• • The New AI Tool That Could Pave
  the Way For Nuclear Fusion Power

  Nuclear Startup Radiant Just Raised Another $300M to Build a Reactor Small Enough to Fit On a Semi-Truck
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Dec. 18, 2025 -To build a working reactor, engineers need to predict how superheated plasma (which is 10X hotter than the sun) behaves in 5 dimensions. Traditionally, a single simulation of this chaotic turbulence took supercomputers days to crunch.

  The new tool, dubbed GyroSwim, shrinks that processing time to seconds. By using AI to “learn” the physics rather than brute-forcing the calculations, researchers can test millions of plasma simulations in the time it once took to test just a few.

• • Radiant Nuclear Raises $300M For Its Semi-Sized 1 MW Reactor

  Nuclear Startup Radiant Just Raised Another $300M to Build a Reactor Small Enough to Fit On a Semi-Truck
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Dec. 18, 2025 -This fundraise values the company at $1.8B and caps a wild month for the sector as investors bet that mass-manufactured fission is the best way to power the AI boom.

  Radiant’s 1 MW microreactor is designed to replace diesel generators at remote sites or data centers. It uses meltdown-resistant TRISO fuel and runs for 5 years before the entire unit is simply hauled away for refueling.

• • Nuclear Industry to Add 15 Reactors Next Year After 2025 Decline

  The Nuclear Industry Is Expected to Switch On 15 Reactors Globally In 2026
  
  {Bloomberg}
  
  

  Dec. 15, 2025 -The nuclear industry is expected to switch on 15 reactors globally in 2026, a big jump after total capacity actually shrank by 1.1 gigawatts this year, according to BloombergNEF.

  Just two new reactors went into service this year through November and seven shut down, BloombergNEF said in a report published Monday. About 12 gigawatts of fission power will be added in 2026, including at the Palisades plant in Michigan that is being revived. However, it will likely be several years before any new traditional nuclear projects in the US are completed.

• • China Is Going Big in the Race to Harness Clean, Limitless Energy

  Beijing Is Pouring Vast Resources Into Fusion Research, While the U.S. Wants Private Industry to Lead the Way
  
  
  

  Dec. 13, 2025 -On a leafy campus in eastern China, crews are working day and night to finish a mammoth round structure with two sweeping arms the length of aircraft carriers.

  On former rice fields in the country’s southwest, a hulking, X-shaped building is being built with equal urgency under great secrecy. That facility’s existence wasn’t widely known until researchers spotted it in satellite images a year or so ago.

• • California’s Last Nuclear Plant Clears Major Hurdle to Power On

  Not Everyone Approves
  
  {Los Angeles Times}
  
  

  Dec. 14, 2025 -California’s last nuclear power plant received permission to operate for at least 5 more years in exchange for conserving thousands of acres of land in San Luis Obispo County.

  The agreement between The California Coastal Commission and Pacific Gas & Electric seeks to balance damage to the marine environment going forward.

  Some stakeholders in the region celebrated the deal while others, including a Native tribe, were disappointed.

• • As the UK Looks to Invest In Nuclear,
  Here’s What It Could Mean For Britain’s Environment

  The Government’s Bid to Speed Up Nuclear Construction Could Usher In Sweeping Deregulation, With Experts Warning of Profound Consequences For Nature
  
  
  

  Dec. 12, 2025 -When UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced last week that he was “implementing the Fingleton review”, you can forgive the pulse of most Britons for failing to quicken.

  But behind the uninspiring statement lies potentially the biggest deregulation for decades, posing peril for endangered species, if wildlife experts are to be believed, and a likely huge row with the EU.

• • Helical Fusion Secures $5.5M Funding

  Signs Japan's First Fusion Power Purchase Agreement
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Dec. 10, 2025 -Tokyo-based startup Helical Fusion signed the historic agreement with Aoki Super, a regional supermarket chain, while simultaneously closing a $5.5M Series A extension to fund the development of its “Helix” reactor.

  Bigger picture: The move is underpinned by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s new “fusion-first” strategy, which aims to achieve 100% energy self-sufficiency for resource-poor Japan by fast-tracking fusion pilot plants into the 2030s.

• • Micro-Nukes Startup Antares Raises $96 Million

  Micro-Reactor Startup Antares Just Raised $96M to Fire Up Its First Test Reactor By Mid-2026
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Dec. 3, 2025 -The funding includes $71M in new equity and $25M in debt, plus $12M+ in federal contracts, including from the Defense Innovation Unit—a sign the Pentagon sees micro-nukes as a future power source for remote bases and off-grid missions.

  is building 100 kW to 1 MW micro-reactors cooled with sodium heat pipes and fueled by TRISO particles—a three-layered nuclear fuel that’s engineered to trap radioactive material even under meltdown-level stress.

• • Kansas Will Get the World’s First Mile-Deep Nuclear Reactor

  The State Is About to Host the World’s First Mile-Deep Nuclear Reactor
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Dec. 8, 2025 -The physics hack: California startup Deep Fission is ditching massive concrete domes for a standard 30-inch borehole. By placing the reactor a mile deep, the sheer weight of the water column above naturally provides the necessary operating pressure, eliminating the need for thick, costly steel pressure vessels.

  The waste fix: The design offers a "bury it and forget it" solution. When the reactor is spent (after ~2–7 years), it can be sealed in place forever far below the water table, or pulled up for inspection like an oil pump.

• • China Launches Full Construction of Its First
  Hualong One Nuclear Unit Equipped With a Cooling Tower

  China is Tweaking Its Homegrown “Hualong One” Nuclear Design to Rely Less On the Ocean
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Nov. 23, The twist: While coastal nuclear plants typically pump in seawater for cooling, the new Zhaoyuan project in Shandong features a 666-ft. “natural draft” tower that vents heat into the atmosphere instead.

  The strategy: By proving the Hualong One works with this “secondary-circuit” cooling, China is effectively unlocking the ability to build these massive reactors inland, rather than squeezing them all along the coastline.

• • Trump Administration Backs Three Mile Island
  Nuclear Restart With $1 Billion Loan to Constellation

  The Department of Energy is Backing Constellation Energy’s Restart
  
  {CNBC}
  
  

  Nov. 18, 2025 - The Trump administration will provide Constellation Energy with a $1 billion loan to restart the Crane Clean Energy Center nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, Department of Energy officials said Tuesday.

  Previously known as Three Mile Island Unit 1, the plant is expected to start generating power again in 2027. Constellation unveiled plans to rename and restart the reactor in Sept. 2024 through a power purchase agreement with Microsoft to support the tech company’s data center demand in the region.

• • Valar Atomics Says It’s the First
  Nuclear Startup to Achieve Criticality

  Using a Zero-Power Chain Reaction to Prove Its Core Physics
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Nov. 18, 2025 - The company hit the milestone with a NOVA test assembly built alongside Los Alamos, a key advantage under the pilot program that lets early-stage reactors run physics validations without waiting years for full NRC licensing.

  Cold criticality doesn’t generate heat or electricity, but it confirms the fuel design and reactor geometry behave as modeled—an especially important check for Valar, whose fuel type has had limited real-world testing.

• • How China Raced Ahead of the U.S. on Nuclear Power

  Beijing’s Ultimate Objective is to Become a Supplier of Nuclear Power to the World, Joining the Rare Few Nations
  
  
  

  Nov. 13, 2025 -China is quickly becoming the global leader in nuclear power, with nearly as many reactors under construction as the rest of the world combined. While its dominance of solar panels and electric vehicles is well known, China is also building nuclear plants at an extraordinary pace. By 2030, China’s nuclear capacity is set to surpass that of the United States, the first country to split atoms to make electricity.

  Many of China’s reactors are derived from American and French designs, yet China has overcome the construction delays and cost overruns that have bogged down Western efforts to expand nuclear power.

• • The Newest Step to Make Nuclear a New York Story

  New York is Officially Scouting Sites For a New Generation of Nuclear Power
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 31, 2025 -The New York Power Authority opened two new solicitations—one for upstate communities interested in hosting a plant and another for developers to share plans, technologies, and cost models.

  The goal: Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to add 1 GW of new nuclear capacity, part of a broader push to boost clean baseload power and strengthen energy security.

• • US Signs $80 Billion Pact to Boost Nuclear Power in AI Push

  Marking Its Largest Nuclear Commitment in Decades
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 28, 2025 -Backed by Brookfield and Cameco, the pact gives financial and regulatory support for large-scale AP1000 reactors, signaling a shift away from SMRs and toward proven designs that can come online faster.

  Economic ripple: Each two-unit site is expected to support 45K jobs across 43 states, with national deployment topping 100K construction roles.

• • Reviving Big Reactors For AI

  Google Inked a 25-Year Deal With NextEra Energy to Help Restart the 615 MW Duane Arnold Nuclear Plant in Iowa, Shuttered Since 2020
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 28, 2025 -The power will feed into the regional grid—not just Google servers. But the agreement gives NextEra the financing it needs to bring the reactor back online by 2029.

  The trend: Microsoft and Constellation struck a similar deal last year to revive Three Mile Island’s remaining reactor, and Google recently backed a carbon-capturing gas plant in Illinois. Brookfield, meanwhile, is in talks to buy and restart a massive two-reactor site in South Carolina.

• • Japan Fusion Energy Start-Up Achieves
  a Key Milestone Toward Commercial Reactor

  Helical Fusion Says It’s One Step Closer to Building a Commercial Fusion Reactor
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 28, 2025 -The breakthrough clears the path for Helix HARUKA, a demonstration device that will test continuous fusion reactions using the company’s Helical Stellarator design. CEO Takaya Taguchi said the breakthrough shows “the possibility of achieving fusion power generation ahead of the rest of the world.”

  The startup plans to bring a commercially viable reactor online by the 2030s but warns Japan is falling behind global rivals. The US and China have invested about $6.6B in fusion R&D over the past 5 years, compared with Japan’s $662M.

• • A Nuclear Power ‘Renaissance’ in the U.S.?

  How Long Will it Take to Build?
  
  
  

  Oct. 23, 2024 -Nuclear energy has emerged as a rare point of agreement between some Democrats and Republicans, and even between some climate advocates and the Trump administration. The greenhouse gas emissions of nuclear power are low, and it produces a constant hum of power, unlike solar and wind.

  And public support has turned a corner in recent years: About 60 percent of U.S. adults now say they support building more nuclear power plants, up from 43 percent 2020, according to a recent survey by Pew Research Center.

• • How China Raced Ahead of the U.S. on Nuclear Power

  Though Experts Say There
  May Be Some 'Good Signs'
  
  
  

  Oct. 22, 2024 -China is quickly becoming the global leader in nuclear power, with nearly as many reactors under construction as the rest of the world combined. While its dominance of solar panels and electric vehicles is well known, China is also building nuclear plants at an extraordinary pace. By 2030, China’s nuclear capacity is set to surpass that of the United States, the first country to split atoms to make electricity.

  Many of China’s reactors are derived from American and French designs, yet China has overcome the construction delays and cost overruns that have bogged down Western efforts to expand nuclear power.

• • US Offers Nuclear Energy Companies
  Access to Weapons-Grade Plutonium

  US to Nuclear Startups: Want Some Cold War Plutonium?
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 22, 2025 -DOE is offering up to 19mt of weapons-grade plutonium—yes, the real deal from retired warheads—to advanced reactor developers.

  The goal: Break Russia’s grip on the nuclear fuel supply chain and jumpstart US production of alternative fuels like MOX or Haleu.

  Applicants like Oklo (backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman) and France’s Newcleo are expected to bite, despite safety concerns around commercial plutonium use.

• • Japan’s New Leader Set to Keep Nuclear Energy Central

  Japan’s Newly-Elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is a Staunch Defender of Nuclear Power
  
  {Bloomberg}
  
  

  Oct. 22, 2025 -Sanae Takaichi, the newly elected prime minister of Japan, may slow the nation’s development of solar farms while keeping nuclear power at the center of its energy strategy.

  “Her point of view is that most of these solar panels, they come from China, they’re not Japanese-made," said Umer Sadiq, a Tokyo-based analyst with BloombergNEF. "So probably they are not good for Japan in an energy security sense.”

• • Palisades Nuclear Plant Takes Another Big Step Toward Restarting

  Michigan’s Palisades Nuclear Plant Received New Nuclear Fuel This Week—A Major Milestone on Its Path to Becoming the First US Reactor Ever Brought Back From Retirement
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 21, 2025 -Holtec, which bought Palisades to dismantle it, is now transforming into a nuclear operator—backed by a $1.5B federal loan originally issued under the Biden administration and upheld by the Trump DOE.

  CEO Kris Singh called it a “testament to the national consensus” around nuclear’s role in meeting the country’s growing power needs.

• • Support For Expanding Nuclear Power
  is Up in Both Parties Since 2020

  Views On Nuclear Energy Differ By Gender Globally, Too, According to a Center Survey Conducted from Fall 2019 to Spring 2020
  
  {Pew Research Center}
  
  

  Oct. 16, 2025 -About six-in-ten U.S. adults now say they favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity, according to a Pew Research Center survey fielded in April and May. That’s up from 43% in 2020, driven by increasing support among both Republicans and Democrats.

  A line chart showing that a Majority of Americans continue to support more nuclear power in the U.S. The Trump administration and Democrats and Republicans in Congress support expanding nuclear power. The second Trump administration has issued four executive orders aimed at dramatically increasing the United States’s nuclear capacity. And a major law President Donald Trump signed in July 2025 preserved many tax incentives for nuclear power.

• • Nuclear Weapons Safety Oversight
  in Decline With Trump, Biden Inaction

  Congress Established the Safety Board in 1988 to Gain Public Trust in Nuclear Work After High-Profile Accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl
  
  
  

  Oct. 15, 2025 -The lone independent federal agency responsible for ensuring safety at U.S. nuclear weapons sites — including Hanford in Washington state — will lose its ability to issue recommendations for safer work by January if the Trump administration doesn’t replenish its board, which this month dwindles to one member.

  The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board ensures adequate public health and worker safety by scrutinizing hazardous work conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors that produce and maintain the nuclear arsenal.

• • Dept of Energy Announces Roadmap
  For Fusion Science and Technology

  The DOE Released Its First Fusion Science & Technology Roadmap Yesterday
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 16, 2025 -Energy Sec. Chris Wright said the roadmap focuses on scaling national lab infrastructure to support private-sector fusion projects through the 2030s. “We need the commercial efforts, but we need the labs,” Wright said.

  AI will play a “tremendous enabling” role, helping scientists model fusion reactions, design materials, and simulate plasma behavior with greater precision.

• • Kansas Could Be the Testing Ground
  For a Nuclear Reactor Built 1 Mile Underground

  Deep Fission Wants to Bury Nuclear Reactors a Mile Underground to Power Data Centers
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 13, 2025 -The California startup plans to install reactors in Kansas, Texas, and Utah. Each reactor would sit in a 30-inch borehole surrounded by natural rock “shielding,” designed to make the system safer, cheaper, and invisible from the surface.

  The tech could deliver on-site nuclear power to energy-hungry industries, without the siting battles that often stall above-ground plants. The company claims 100 underground reactors could fit on just 3 acres and produce 1.5 GW of electricity.

• • Holtec Abandons Plans For
  Private New Mexico Nuclear Waste Site

  Ending Years of Political and Legal Battles Over the Controversial Project
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 10, 2025 -Holtec and local partners concluded there was “no viable path forward.” The project had been licensed by the NRC and reaffirmed by the Supreme Court earlier this year, but state opposition made it politically untenable.

  NM Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham praised the move, saying, “Fighting to put more nuclear waste in New Mexico was a losing proposition.”

• • Japan’s New Leader to Make Nuclear Center of Energy Strategy

  Leader Plans To Make Nuclear Power the Cornerstone Of The Country’s Energy Strategy
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 8, 2025 -Sanae Takaichi aims to accelerate next-gen nuclear and fusion technologies to achieve full energy self-sufficiency, continuing Japan’s post-Fukushima push to restart reactors and build new units.

  Between the lines: The move underscores Japan’s priority on energy security over climate ambition, with nuclear positioned as a strategic alternative to costly fossil fuel imports.

• • Is Nuclear the Key to Powering the Data Center Boom?

  Nuclear Resources Must First Overcome Complex Operational, Financial and Workforce Challenges
  
  {UTILITY DIVE}
  
  

  Oct. 3, 2025 -The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant on the outskirts of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is the site of the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history. The 1979 calamity, which released radioactive material into the environment, cast nuclear energy as a dangerous endeavor that few organizations pursued. Now, after years of plants shutting down, nuclear energy is experiencing a renaissance.

  Three Mile Island will be restarted in 2027 as the Crane Clean Energy Center, in part to power data centers after a power purchase agreement with Microsoft. Meta also saved a nuclear plant in Illinois that was in danger of closing after signing a 1.1 GW deal. These two major deals signal a growing trend of hyperscalers embracing nuclear power and driving forward expansive new growth.

• • China Just Created the World’s Most Powerful Magnet

  It Could Be Useful In Fusion
  
  
  

  Oct. 2, 2025 -In Hefei, China, physicists switched on a new machine that pushed magnetic fields to record strength. As the device powered up, it held a magnetic field more than 700,000 times stronger than Earth’s natural field.

  The strength: 35.1 tesla. It’s the strongest magnetic field ever produced by a superconducting magnet. For perspective, Earth’s magnetic field is about 0.00005 tesla. It’s sometimes measured in a different unit of measure called a “gauss”. The Earth’s magnetic field is 0.5 gauss, while the new Chinese magnet reached 351,000 gauss, zooming past the previous world record of 323,500 gauss. .

• • Nuclear Power Startups Are Starting to Look Like a Bubble

  A Vote of Confidence
  
  {SEMAFOR}
  
  

  Oct. 2, 2025 -US Energy Secretary Chris Wright cast a renewed vote of confidence in cutting-edge nuclear power technology this week, even as some Wall Street analysts caution of a bubble in the making.

  While the Trump administration has slashed federal support for wind and solar energy, advanced nuclear is one low-carbon technology that still has widespread bipartisan support. During a visit to a Massachusetts facility where the startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems is developing what it hopes will be the first commercially viable nuclear fusion reactor, Wright said the technology “has the potential to be transformative for the world’s energy security.”

• • Can Small Nuclear Reactors Help
  Power the AI Boom and Fight Climate Change?

  The US Will Pour $350B into Nuclear Power By 2050, Largely to Feed AI’s Surging Energy Appetite
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Sept. 30, 2025 -The buildout would add 53 GW of capacity, boosting the US reactor fleet by 63% to 159 GW, enough to support expanding data centers while cutting carbon emissions.

  Most of the growth is expected to come from SMRs, which promise lower costs and faster installation but won’t see wide deployment until after 2035.

  Progress will be slow at first—the report expects just 9 GW to be added in the next decade—as the industry wrestles with costs, fuel supply, labor shortages, and regulatory stalemates.

• • Aurora Powerhouse Nuclear Plant
  Breaks Ground at Idaho Lab

  The First Commercial-Scale Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor Built Under DOE’s New Reactor Pilot Program
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Sept. 24, 2025 -DOE and Oklo describe Aurora as providing clean, reliable, carbon-free power to meet rising US electricity demand. It’s one of three DOE pilot projects awarded to Oklo, including one through its subsidiary Atomic Alchemy.

  The 200 kW reactor will use metal fuel recovered from the Experimental Breeder Reactor II, which operated from 1964 to 1994.

• • Eni Signs a Billion-Dollar PPA
  with Commonwealth Fusion Systems

  The PPA With Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) for Half the Output of Its Planned 400 Mw Arc Fusion Plant in Virginia
  
  {Energy Central}
  
  

  Sept. 22, 2025 -The deal comes just three months after Google contracted for the other 200 MW, locking up the plant’s full capacity years ahead of its early-2030s target start date.

  CFS, backed by $3B in funding and partners like Dominion Energy, is pursuing an independent power producer model—financing and operating the plant without ratepayer cost recovery.

  Yes, but: CFS still faces the challenge of proving net-positive fusion, with its SPARC demo in Massachusetts slated to begin energy production after 2026.

• • How AI Is Helping Al Gore Warm Up to Nuclear Power

  AI's Surging Electricity Demand Merits Giving Nuclear Power a Fresh Look
  
  {AXIOS}
  
  

  Sept. 23, 2025 - The former vice president and famous environmentalist has had an evolving perspective on nuclear. It encapsulates the tricky position the power source occupies in our broader energy and climate debate.

  What he's saying: "The surge in demand for electricity is causing some reanalysis of what role nuclear might play when you have large, wealthy, consumer-facing businesses that need enormous amounts of new power," Gore said in an exclusive interview with Axios.

  Later in the interview, he mused about how higher prices in recent decades halted growth in the nuclear sector.

• • U.S., UK Aim to Usher in "Golden
  Age of Nuclear" in Series of Deals

  The US and UK Announced a Slate of Nuclear Deals, Teeing Up the Start of a “Golden Age of Nuclear”
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Sept. 15, 2025 -Projects include up to 12 SMRs in northeast England from X-energy and Centrica, a micro-modular reactor for DP World’s London Gateway port, and advanced data centers powered by SMRs in Nottinghamshire.

  The countries also agreed to expand supply of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) and to end reliance on Russian nuclear material by the end of 2028.

• • Indian Point Owner Floats Restart
  of Shuttered Nuclear Reactors

  Holtec, the Company Decommissioning the Plant, Says It Would Need State and Federal Backing to Rebuild the Plant
  
  
  
  

  Sept. 10, 2025 - Five years after Indian Point started shutting down, the company charged with dismantling the nuclear plant says it could still be restarted — at an estimated cost of $10 billion.

  “I’m getting so many people asking me from New York if this is possible,” said Holtec International President Kelly Trice. “The answer is yes.”

• • Energy Department Announces $134 Million to Advance
  U.S. Fusion Leadership Through Targeted Research

  Funding for Two Programs Designed to Secure U.S. Leadership in Emerging Fusion Technologies and Innovation
  
  {U.S. Department of Energy}
  
  

  Sept. 10, 2025 -The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $134 million in funding for two programs designed to secure U.S. leadership in emerging fusion technologies and innovation. These investments are part of DOE’s broader mission to unleash American energy, science, and innovation, ensuring the technologies that define the future of fusion power are developed here in the United States.

  “Under President Trump’s leadership, DOE is unleashing the next frontier of American energy,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “Fusion power holds the promise of limitless, reliable, American-made energy—and programs like INFUSE and FIRE ensure our innovators have the tools, talent, and partnerships to make it a reality.”

• • Companies See Big Chance to Spin
  Nuclear Straw Into Usable Gold

  Two Startups Are Betting That America’s Nuclear Waste Can Be Fuel For the Future
  
  {AXIOS}
  
  

  Sept. 8, 2025 -Oklo and Curio are among the companies touting the concept that U.S. nuclear waste can be a valuable asset and isn't just something to bury.

  President Trump signed an executive order in May requiring the Energy Department to identify sources of uranium and plutonium that could be recycled or processed into fuel for reactors.

• • Don't Allow Nuclear Weapons Regulatory Process Loopholes

  Deliver This Message to Congress
  
  {Union of Concerned Scientists}
  
  

  Sept. 8, 2025 -The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has a track record of making decisions behind closed doors and ignoring community and scientific concerns during regulatory processes that are supposed to keep us safe. From not properly addressing the full impacts of plutonium pit production, to not addressing legacy nuclear waste at national labs, it is clear environmental and community safety is not the NNSA's top priority.

  We can't let the government try and cut corners on processes that are in place to protect workers, communities, and the environment. Community members deserve to know the full impacts of nuclear weapons production and have their concerns properly addressed.

• • Fourteen Years After Japan’s Nuclear Disaster:

  People With Cancer Seek Answers
  
  
  
  

  Sept. 3, 2025 -She was in middle school in March 2011, when three reactors melted down at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant about 40 miles from her home in northern Japan. Living outside the evacuation zone, she continued to go about her life, shopping and cycling to school.

  Four years later, a screening found a malignant tumor in her thyroid, a gland in the neck that is known to be vulnerable to radioactive particles released during a nuclear accident. But when she got the diagnosis, a doctor told her immediately that the growth was unrelated to the disaster. But...

• • Takeaways From the Big Senate NRC Hearing

  The Senate Grilled NRC Leaders This Week on Whether Trump’s Nuclear Push is Putting Safety at Risk
  
  {Energy Central}
  
  

  August 26, 2025 -NRC Chair David Wright confirmed a DOE official previously suggested the agency would be expected to “rubber-stamp” reactors approved by Energy or Defense—an expectation Wright said he rejected.

  Lawmakers flagged new rules requiring White House review of NRC actions, raising fears of backroom influence. Democratic commissioners warned executive pressure and staff losses could undermine safety.

• • Meet the New Fusion Startup With a DOE Pedigree

  A New Player is Entering the Nuclear Fusion Race, and It Comes With DOE Credentials
  
  {Energy Central}
  
  

  August 26, 2025 -Inertia Enterprises, co-founded by Twilio’s Jeff Lawson, fusion scientist Andrea Kritcher (who led the team that achieved the world's first fusion ignition and breakeven in 2022), and Stanford’s Michael Dunne, aims to turn lab science into commercial power plants.

  The startup has struck deals with Lawrence Livermore National Lab, licensing 200 patents and securing a unique arrangement that lets Kritcher co-found Inertia while continuing her DOE work.

  Lawson is providing a “substantial amount of capital” as the company develops low-cost lasers and fuel targets to scale ignition into grid-ready fusion.

• • Ailing Nuclear Workers Left In Limbo

  HHS Suspends Medical Teams in Charge of Claims
  
  
  
  

  August 29, 2025 -Steve Hicks worked for 34 years at the Y-12 National Security Complex, which enriched the uranium for the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 and to this day remains a key site in the United States’ nuclear weapons complex.

  He is spending his retirement managing the 30 daily medications he takes to treat the effects of two cancers and nerve damage linked to radiation exposure and petitioning the Department of Health and Human Services to pay the medical bills for thousands of fellow Y-12 employees stricken with cancers associated with their employment.

• • Commonwealth Fusion Systems Gets
  $863M to Commercialize Fusion Energy

  Nuclear Startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems Just Secured $863M in Fresh Capital, Bringing Its Total Fundraising to Nearly $3B
  
  
  
  

  August 28, 2025 -Commonwealth will use the funds to finish its SPARC demonstration reactor in Devens, MA, and advance development of its first ARC power plant in Virginia, expected to supply power in the early 2030s.

  The funding round drew new backing from Nvidia’s NVentures, Brevan Howard, and a 12-company Japanese consortium led by Mitsui and Mitsubishi.

• • Nuclear Officials Endorse Using
  Plutonium From Dismantled Warheads

  Experts in Arms Control and Nuclear Safety Say the Idea — Which Would Repurpose Plutonium From Dismantled Warheads — is Costly and Dangerous
  
  {AXIOS}
  
  

  August 27, 2025 -They worry it could increase the likelihood that U.S. enemies could get their hands on the material used to build nuclear weapons.

  The Energy Department plans to announce it will soon seek proposals from industry, Reuters reported last week, citing a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

  Driving the news: Bradley Williams, an Idaho National Laboratory senior policy adviser and lead for energy policy and strategic analysis, said at a National Press Club breakfast that plutonium "may or may not be a broadly used fuel of the future" for commercial reactors.

• • In Utah, a Bill Gates-Backed Nuclear
  Company is Exploring Where to Build a Power Plant

  Utah is Officially in the Running
  
  
  
  

  Aug. 26, 2025 -The state signed an MOU with TerraPower (developer of the Natrium sodium-cooled fast reactor) and Flagship Companies to identify potential sites, with a preliminary list expected by year’s end.

  Less than half of Utahns like the idea of building nuclear facilities in the state, but Gov. Spencer Cox plans to spend ~$2M on a messaging campaign meant to amp up public sentiment.

• • Google, Kairos, and TVA Ink
  Historic Next-Generation Nuclear Deal

  Tennessee Valley Authority has Scored a PPA with Google-Backed Fourth-Generation Nuclear Reactor Developer Kairos
  
  
  
  

  August 14, 2025 -TVA will take power from Kairos’ Hermes 2, a fluoride salt-cooled test reactor that’s being re-engineered to put out 50 MW instead of 28 MW. The move represents a shift away from smaller third-generation reactors (like those from NuScale or Westinghouse).

  Last year, Google agreed to buy up to 500 MW from Kairos over the next decade. Under this deal, the tech giant will purchase its first MWs through the TVA grid.

• • Heat Waves Are a Growing Threat
  to Europe’s Nuclear Power Supply

  Learn Abut the Impacts
  
  {Bloomberg}
  
  

  August 12, 2025 -Heat waves across Europe are increasing the need for nuclear power plants to be taken offline, with the situation expected to worsen in the coming decades and few options for mitigation.

  Weather-related nuclear outages, mainly caused by elevated temperatures of cooling water, increased threefold in the period from 2010 to 2019, compared with 1990 to 2009, according to a study published in Energy Economics.

• • A Swarm of Jellyfish Just Shut
  Down 10% of France’s Nuclear Power

  On a Hot August Night, Jellyfish Jammed a Nuclear Giant
  
  
  
  

  August 12, 2025 -Late Sunday, a jellyfish swarm clogged the cooling-water filters at Gravelines, a six-reactor plant on France’s North Sea coast. Four units shut down automatically. It was a bad timing, as two other reactors were already offline for maintenance, leaving the site temporarily silent. According to European energy outlet Montel News, this essentially knocked out 10% of France’s nuclear capacity.

  The system, which draws seawater from a canal connected to the North Sea, is designed to keep out debris. But jellyfish are flexible and slippery and they slipped through the initial screens. Eventually, they became trapped in the secondary filters. The resulting blockage cut water flow and triggered an automatic shutdown.

• • Fusion Breakthrough: One
  Step Closer to Solving Key Challenges

  Another Step Towards a
  Working Fusion Reactor
  
  

  Nov. 8, 2021 - In fusion power, two atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, releasing vast amounts of energy in the process. The process takes place in a fusion reactor and, at least in theory, this energy can be harnessed; but the practical aspects are extremely challenging.

  An important problem for fusion reactors is maintaining the plasma core extremely hot (hotter than the surface of the sun), while also safely containing the plasma — something fusion researchers refer to as “core-edge integration”.

• • Is Thorium the Nuclear Answer?

  Thorium Nuclear Reactors
  Mentioned by Andrew Yang

  Dec. 23, 2019 (energycentral)- Andrew Yang mentioned Thorium Nuclear Reactors as one of the advanced nuclear fission reactor concepts. Yang has also talked about making a prototype thorium reactor by 2027. There is a US startup working on a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor. If Flibe Energy was fully funded then they could build their planned 20-50 MW modular nuclear reactor by 2027. China also has an extensive molten salt and thorium reactor program. It is also possible to have more conventional reactors or pebble bed reactors adapted to use some thorium.

  Yang has proposed nuclear subsidy—$50 billion over five years. If there was that level of subsidy, then the other advanced nuclear projects would complete for it. There would be a lot of push for the molten salt reactors that use Uranium. The Thorcon molten salt reactor seems like a design that could scale to 100 GW per year of construction. In the rest of this article, I will review the status of the US, China and Indian Thorium reactor projects.

• • TerraPower: Nuclear Innovation
  (Striving to Improve the World)

  We Need Advanced Nuclear Now
  TeraPower Says It's Rready

  TeraPower-TerraPower’s founders entered the nuclear energy arena to meet growing electricity needs and lift billions out of poverty. Advanced reactors and other isotopic applications are now possible with technology and enhanced computing capabilities that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. TerraPower says that they are ready to build the clean energy of tomorrow - today.

  One of their founders, incidentally, is Bill Gates.

• •  The Hanford Nuclear Leak Is Irreparable  

  D.O.E. To Permanently
  Close Damaged Hanford Tank

  Jan. 2, 2018 - The Energy Department says it will permanently close a damaged radioactive waste storage tank on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

  The department says that Tank AY-102 has widespread damage and should not be repaired.

  Click now for more on this earthFix story.

• •  The U.S. Backs Off Nukes - But Not Georgia 

  The U.S. Backs Off Nuclear
  Power. Georgia Wants to
  Keep Building Reactors

  Aug. 31, 2017,  The New York Times - Even as the rest of the United States backs away from nuclear power, utilities in Georgia are pressing ahead with plans to build two huge reactors in the next five years — the only nuclear units still under construction nationwide.

• • Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon?

  Keeping Uranium Mining
  Out of the Grand Canyon

  The Grand Canyon is an irreplaceable natural treasure. Its stunning vistas, ancient geology, and winding Colorado River are world renowned — drawing over 5.5 million visitors to the park each year. Moreover, more than 40 million people and 4 million acres of farmland depend on the Colorado River for clean, safe water.

  Yet, irresponsibly operated uranium mines located on federal public land just miles from the North and South Rims threaten to permanently pollute the Grand Canyon landscape and the greater Colorado River.

• • What's the NRC Hiding on Palo Verde?

  Nuclear Leaks: The Back Story
  the NRC Doesn’t Want You to
  Know about Palo Verde

  June 14,2017 - One of two emergency diesel generators (EDGs) for the Unit 3 reactor at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station in Arizona was severely damaged during a test run on December 15, 2016.

  The operating license issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) allowed the reactor to continue running for up to 10 days with one EDG out of service. Because the extensive damage required far longer than 10 days to repair, the owner asked the NRC for permission to continue operating Unit 3 for up to 62 days with only one EDG available. The NRC approved that request.

• • The USA's 10 Riskiest Nuclear Power Plants 

  Where Are They - And
  What Are the Dangers?

  March 18, 2011 - As we watch the continuing catastrophe in Japan unfold with no clear expectations of the outcome, one thing is for certain: The safety of nuclear power has become a hot topic of conversation. While some countries are shutting down plants, many other are reevaluating the safety of theirs and strategizing over future plans.

• • Ohio House Speaker Arrested for Bribery

  The Speaker and Four Others
  Were Attempting to Bail
  Out the Ohio Nuclear Industry

  July 21, 2020,(POWERGRID INTERNATIONAL)-The powerful Republican speaker of the Ohio House and four associates were arrested Tuesday in a $60 million federal bribery case connected to a taxpayer-funded bailout of Ohio’s two nuclear power plants.

  Hours after FBI agents raided Speaker Larry Householder’s farm, U.S. Attorney David DeVillers described the ploy as “likely the largest bribery scheme ever perpetrated against the state of Ohio.”

  Householder was one of the driving forces behind the nuclear plants’ financial rescue, which added a new fee to every electricity bill in the state and directed over $150 million a year through 2026 to the plants near Cleveland and Toledo.

• • Is The Energy of the Future Finally Here?

  World’s Largest Nuclear Fusion
  Experiment Clears Milestone

  July 24, 2019,(Scientific American) -A multination project to build a fusion reactor cleared a milestone yesterday and is now 6 ½ years away from “First Plasma,” officials announced.

  Yesterday, dignitaries attended a components handover ceremony at the construction site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in southern France. The ITER project is an experiment aimed at reaching the next stage in the evolution of nuclear energy as a means of generating emissions-free electricity.

• • Old Nuke Plants Are Dragging Down Clean Energy

  Why America’s Old Nuclear
  Plants Could Be Dragging Down
  Clean Energy Development

  Apr. 25, 2017 -New York and Illinois are investing billions to keep old facilities in action, and Connecticut, New Jersey, and Ohio are among states contemplating the same idea. It’s an expensive process, though it does mean that new natural gas plants aren’t required to fill the gaps left by wind and solar.

• • Revisiting the Three Mile Island Meltdown 

  Documentary:Meltdown at Three
  Mile Island 40 Years Later

  EnergyCentral Mar. 28, 2019 -The Three Mile Island accident on March 28, 1979 is still considered the worst at a U.S. nuclear plant in history. Due to a series of human and technical errors, the core of the Unit Two reactor at TMI partially melted down.

  Though debated and controversial, research over the past 40 years concluded only a small amount of radiation escaped into the atmosphere and didn’t result in any deaths or injuries.

  This documentary details what happened inside the containment building at TMI on March 28: the chaos, confusion, miscommunication and fear in the area surrounding the plant afterwards and the legacy of TMI after the accident.

• • British Nuclear Project Becomes Messy

  Huge British Nuclear
  Project Becomes a
  Diplomatic Flash Point

  Aug. 15, 2016 -Once considered a vital part of Britain’s clean-energy future, the beleaguered Hinkley Point nuclear plant project looked further than ever from becoming reality this week as a row erupted between the three countries developing the massive facility: the U.K., France, and China.

• •  Does Fail-safe Nuclear Power Actually Exist?   

  Could We Actually Have
  Fail-safe Nuclear Power?

  Aug. 2, 2016 -The Shanghai Institute’s effort to develop molten-salt reactors, a technology that has sat all but forgotten in the United States for decades, reflects just how daring China’s nuclear ambitions are. Already, the government has invested some two billion Chinese renminbi ($300 million) over the last five years in molten-salt R&D. Building actual plants will require tens of billions more.

• •  Florida Power & Light Sued For Radio-Active Leak 

  Florida Nuclear
  Plant Operator Sued for
  Polluting Drinking Water

  July 15, 2016 -Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against Florida Power & Light Co., operator of the Turkey Point nuclear facility, saying that the company violated the Clean Water Act by discharging contaminants from the plant, impacting nearby drinking water.

  Click now to read the story
  (Hint: Bring your Geiger Counter).

• • The Protrusion of Confusion Over Fusion

  The Real Problem With
  Fusion Energy

  May 27, 2016 -The longstanding joke about fusion — that it’s the energy source of the future, and always will may not be the field’s biggest problem.

  Click now for what
  might be encouraging news.

• • All Things Nuclear

  Fukushima: Taking On the NRC

  Union of Concerned Scientists - If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission balks at implementing new safeguards in a reasonable time frame on the grounds that it does not have enough information about what happened in Japan, then the agency also cannot have enough information to relicense operating reactors or license new ones...

  More by clicking now.

• • Russia Criticized For Its Arctic Nuclear Activity

  Nuclear Security: Power
  Plants Are Poorly Protected
  Against Malicious Acts

  Oct. 10, 2017   Greenpeace - The nuclear power plants around us are “The Sword of Damocles” over our heads.

  A new report by independent experts, submitted to authorities in France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg, questions security at French and Belgian nuclear facilities and points at their vulnerability to outside attacks. These experts are particularly concerned about a certain type of facility at nuclear plants: the spent fuel storage pools.

  These pools tend to contain the highest volume of radioactive matter in a nuclear plant and are very poorly protected. Rather than wait for the worst to happen, let’s address this issue and take action.

• • Dangers of Densely Packed Nuclear Waste Pools

  The Case for Moving U.S.
  Nuclear Fuel to Dry Storage

  Apr. 14, 2011   M.I.T. Technology Review - One of the lesser-noted facts of the Fukushima nuclear disaster—where loss of coolant in spent-fuel pools has resulted in massive radiation releases—is that some fuel at the plant was stored in so-called dry casks, and these casks survived the March 11 earthquake and tsunami intact.

  This fact is likely to result in new calls to move some spent fuel out of water pools at reactor sites in the United States—where it is packed more densely than the fuel in the stricken Japanese pools—and into outdoor dry casks, experts say.

  Worried? Click now to get radio-active.

• • Links Between Nuke Power and Weapons

  The Links Between Nuclear
  Power and Nuclear Weapons

  - Nuclear weapons and nuclear power share several common features. The long list of links includes their histories, similar technologies, skills, health and safety aspects, regulatory issues and radiological research and development. For example, the process of enriching uranium to make it into fuel for nuclear power stations is also used to make nuclear weapons. Plutonium is a by-product of the nuclear fuel cycle and is still used by some countries to make nuclear weapons.

  There is a danger that more nuclear power stations in the world could mean more nuclear weapons. Because countries like the UK are promoting the expansion of nuclear power, other countries are beginning to plan for their own nuclear power programs too. But there is always the danger that countries acquiring nuclear power technology may subvert its use to develop a nuclear weapons program.

  Click to read more from
  the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.