Russia plans to build its first lunar nuclear power plant around 2035 to supply energy for extraterrestrial research bases

Recently, Alexey Likhachev, CEO of Rosatom, stated during a visit to the Atomic Museum at the All-Russian Exhibition Center (VDNKh) that Russia plans to build its first nuclear power plant on the lunar surface before the mid-2030s (around 2035), to provide stable electricity for future lunar bases and research facilities. It is understood that this lunar nuclear power plant will become the core energy hub for future extraterrestrial space stations and deep space exploration infrastructure. Roscosmos signed a formal contract with the Lavochkin Association in December 2025, fully launching the lunar...

2026-10-16

Poland Forms Joint Venture to Build Six BWRX-300 Small Reactors

Recently, Polish green energy company SGE (formerly Synthos Green Energy) and power giant ZE PAK signed a cooperation agreement, announcing the establishment of a joint venture to jointly develop a nuclear power plant comprising up to six BWRX-300 small modular reactors (SMRs) at Patnow in Poland, with a total installed capacity of 1,800 megawatts (1,800 MW). It is understood that the proposed nuclear power project will directly repurpose ZE PAK's existing coal-fired power plant. ZE PAK will contribute the land rights to the site into the joint venture and will have a flexible option over the coming years——either to continue participating in project operations and maintenance as a minority shareholder, or to choose to sell its shares in the project company...

2026-10-16

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Delivers Three Replacement Steam Generators to EDF to Support Nuclear Power Plant Life Extension

Recently, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) of Japan officially delivered three replacement steam generators (SGs) to Électricité de France (EDF). These heavy components are planned for installation at Unit 2 of the Cruas Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern France. It is understood that, as a key core component of pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear power plants, the steam generator plays a critical role in transferring heat from the primary coolant system to the secondary cooling system, thereby generating steam to drive the turbine for power generation. Each unit of the delivered equipment is approximately 21 meters tall and weighs about 330 tonnes, is manufactured from high-strength low-alloy steel, and internally integrates more than 4,500 specially heat-treated, highly corrosion-resistant TT690 nickel-chromium-iron alloy heat transfer tubes.

2026-10-16

US Oak Ridge National Laboratory Develops 3D-Printed Composite Molds, Significantly Shortening Construction Cycles for Advanced Nuclear Power Plants

According to reports, the US Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and its partners have successfully developed new 3D-printed composite molds that can shorten the production cycle of specialized concrete formwork for nuclear facilities from approximately six months to about two weeks. The project, titled Advanced Composite Formwork for Accelerated High-Precision Nuclear Infrastructure Construction, was awarded the 2026 CAMX Combined Strength Award for its breakthroughs in additive manufacturing and advanced materials. It is understood that the technology has been fully...

2026-10-16

ABS and U.S. Department of Energy Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Comprehensively Advance Maritime Applications of Commercial Nuclear Energy Technology

Recently, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and the Office of Nuclear Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at jointly advancing the deep application and industrial deployment of commercial nuclear energy technology in the maritime sector. Under the agreement, both parties will jointly manage the newly established Maritime Nuclear Applications Group (MNAG), providing comprehensive support for projects at the technical, regulatory, economic, and policy levels. It is understood that this collaboration covers floating platform nuclear energy systems, nuclear-powered commercial vessels, and the ports, shipyards, and industrial bases required to support the construction, operation, and maintenance of...

2026-10-15

Bluecore Energy Completes $50 Million Financing and Secures Nuclear Fuel Supply, Accelerating Its First Floating Nuclear Power Plant Project

Recently, Bluecore Energy, a nuclear energy startup headquartered in California, USA, completed a $50 million seed round of financing to advance its compact water-cooled nuclear reactor project designed specifically for marine environments. The company has procured Low-Enriched Uranium Hexafluoride from nuclear fuel trader WMC Group. The batch of raw material is currently stored at a facility in California and will subsequently be converted into Uranium Dioxide and fabricated into fuel pellets for future hardware and system testing. It is understood that Bluecore Energy is conducting fuel-free...

2026-10-15

Akkuyu NPP in Türkiye Holds Full-Scale Joint Emergency Exercise: Cross-Departmental Live Drill Tested Ahead of First Unit Commissioning

The Akkuyu NPP, Türkiye's first nuclear power project, constructed by Rosatom, held a large-scale comprehensive emergency and firefighting tactical live exercise on October 12 at the Büyükeceli site in Mersin Province. The exercise aimed to comprehensively test the multi-agency coordinated response capabilities of nuclear power plant operating shift personnel, external technical support organizations, and Turkish local emergency rescue teams under extreme conditions, providing critical pre-commissioning safety justification for Unit 1 of the project as it formally enters the fuel-loading and commercial power generation phase. Rosatom Director General Alexey...

2026-10-14

Russia's Balakovo NPP Meets 2026 Metal Decontamination and Recycling Target Ahead of Schedule, Over 57 Tonnes of Purified Steel Ingots Return to Industrial Circulation

Rosenergoatom, the electric power division of Rosatom, has announced that its Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant (Balakovo NPP) has completed its 2026 target for Very Low-Level Waste (VLLW) disposal and metal recycling ahead of schedule. The plant has transferred a cumulative 80 tonnes of very low-level iron-containing metal waste to external specialized processing enterprises. Following deep decontamination and remelting refinement, more than 57 tonnes of clean metal ingots meeting unrestricted release standards were ultimately produced, fully realizing the recycling and regeneration of materials from decommissioned nuclear power equipment. According to the long-term radioactive waste management plan published by Balakovo NPP, the site plans to...

2026-10-14

Expansion of the United States' only commercial uranium enrichment facility reaches 75% completion, as Urenco's New Mexico plant accelerates capacity upgrades

As the only commercial uranium enrichment facility on U.S. soil, the National Enrichment Facility in Eunice, New Mexico, has recently reached a key expansion milestone, with its phased capacity expansion target now 75% complete. Operator Urenco Group plans to raise the plant's uranium enrichment capacity to 7 million Separative Work Units (SWU) per year over the next decade, in order to strengthen the United States' domestic nuclear fuel supply security. Strong global demand for zero-carbon electricity is currently driving a revival of the nuclear energy industry. Although the United States is at the forefront of research and development in next-generation reactor technologies...

2026-10-14

Review of Continued Operation for Kori NPP Units 3 and 4 Launched; Accident Management Plan Included in Review Process

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) of South Korea is scheduled to hold its 16th plenary meeting of 2026 on October 15, formally placing the continued operation license application for Units 3 and 4 of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant in Gijang, Busan, on its agenda for deliberation. Notably, these two nuclear units, which are currently in a shutdown state, have directly initiated the continued operation licensing procedure in parallel, even as the Accident Management Plan (AMP) has yet to complete final approval. According to the meeting schedule, the first agenda item of this plenary meeting...

2026-10-14

EDF Plans to Accelerate Climate Adaptation Plan as Summer Extreme Heat Forces Faster Nuclear Unit Retrofits

Xavier Ursat, an executive at Electricité de France (EDF), told local media on October 13 that, given the record negative disruption caused by this summer's extreme heat to the operation of France's nuclear units, the company has decided to comprehensively accelerate the nuclear power plant climate adaptation plan (ADAPT). As the backbone of France's baseload power, more than half of the country's electricity supply depends on nuclear power plants, and these plants generally draw water from inland rivers or estuaries as the secondary loop cooling water source. Affected by heatwave weather, many units, after the cooling cycle, return water to rivers at slightly elevated temperatures, making it very easy to touch...

2026-10-14

Slovakia's Mochovce NPP Unit 4 First Grid Connection Delayed Due to Retest, Full Commercial Operation Expected Within the Year

Slovenské elektrárne announced on October 13 that due to the need to repeat a scheduled technical test, the grid synchronization and connection of Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant Unit 4, originally scheduled for that day, will be postponed by several days. The commissioning start-up procedures for the unit are still progressing steadily, and the overall project remains on track to enter full commercial operation before the end of this year. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico had previously stated that the grid connection ceremony was scheduled for Tuesday, and he had originally planned to personally attend the event at the nuclear power plant site. Slovenské elektrárne stated in its...

2026-10-14

MIPT and U.S. Partners Develop Precise Method for Calculating Nuclear Power Plant Seismic Resistance

Recently, the Science Communication Center of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) reported that Russian and American researchers have jointly developed a method capable of precisely calculating the seismic resistance of nuclear power plants, taking into account the heterogeneous structure of reinforced concrete, including the presence of individual rebar within walls and domes. The new method helps improve nuclear power plant safety by accounting for differences in how different types of seismic waves act on reinforced concrete. Alena Favorskaya, a lead researcher at MIPT, stated that the study explicitly identifies metal rebar as heterogeneities in the computational domain rather than averaging them; the grid-characteristic method (gr...

2026-10-13

Beloyarsk NPP BN-600 Unit 3 Reaches Full Power After Maintenance, New Liquid Sodium Electromagnetic Pump Commissioned

Recently, Unit 3 of the Beloyarsk NPP equipped with the BN-600 reactor reached 100% power after scheduled maintenance. More than 1,000 employees participated in the maintenance, from the nuclear power plant's maintenance department, Uralatomenergoremont, and other contracting organizations. It is understood that the main work during the outage included: completing the refueling of 120 fuel assemblies containing nuclear fuel, performing major overhaul of the reactor facility and replacing 9 guide tubes of the control and protection system, as well as performing major overhaul of generator No. 6. One of the most important modernization efforts was the replacement of the electromagnetic pump (EMN, electromagnetic pump) used for transporting liquid metal sodium in the secondary loop.

2026-10-13

Fermi America's Project Matador Receives NRC Draft Environmental Assessment, Plans Four AP1000 Reactors to Power AI

Recently, Fermi America's advanced energy and intelligence campus, Project Matador, located in Carson County, Texas, has made significant progress. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has published a Federal Register notice releasing the draft environmental assessment for the four Westinghouse AP1000 reactors planned for the campus. NRC staff have preliminarily recommended approval of the project's combined license, subject to completion of the necessary safety review. It is understood that Project Matador plans 17 gigawatts of private energy infrastructure, with nuclear power generation as a key component...

2026-10-13

Czech Škoda JS Wins First Polish Nuclear Energy Order, to Invest About CZK 300 Million in Modernizing MARIA Research Reactor

Pilsen-based Škoda JS a.s., part of the Czech ČEZ Group, has recently won its first commercial contract in the Polish market. The company will invest approximately CZK 300 million to carry out a comprehensive modernization of the MARIA research reactor, which belongs to the Polish National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) and is located in Otwock, near Warsaw. Škoda JS spokesperson Karel Samec confirmed the deal to the Czech News Agency (ČTK), saying the company hopes to use this as an opportunity to further expand into the Polish nuclear power market and to secure a role as a core equipment...

2026-10-12

Syrian Atomic Energy Commission Holds First Nuclear Energy Experts Forum to Promote Research Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy

The Syrian Atomic Energy Commission (SAEC) held the First Syrian Nuclear Energy Experts Forum on October 11 at its headquarters in Damascus, bringing together nuclear science scholars and professional technical personnel from inside and outside Syria, with the aim of deepening research collaboration and advancing academic efforts in the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy. The meeting was co-chaired by the current Chairman of the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission, Mudar al-Okla, and the Commission's first Director, Ibrahim Haddad, and was held at the Commission's Damascus headquarters in the capital. The Syrian Atomic Energy Commission's new...

2026-10-12

Unit 1 of Bangladesh's Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Achieves First Criticality, Realizing First Nuclear Fission Chain Reaction

Unit 1 of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Bangladesh's first nuclear power plant, officially initiated its first nuclear fission reaction on the afternoon of October 11, marking a breakthrough milestone for the country's first major nuclear energy project. Md Anwar Hossain, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Bangladesh, confirmed to the media that, after obtaining formal approval from the nuclear safety regulatory authority, the unit successfully initiated a self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction at approximately 3:34 p.m. that day. Hossain stated that the on-site commissioning team conducted the fission reaction startup operation at Unit 1 for the first time that day, and the entire startup process proceeded very smoothly...

2026-10-12

South Korea's Gaon Cable to Build Nuclear Power Plant Dedicated Cable Production Line in the United States

South Korean LS Group's cable manufacturing subsidiary Gaon Cable (Korean: 가온전선, English: Gaon Cable Co., Ltd.) announced on Monday that it will build a nuclear power plant dedicated cable production line at its production base in North Carolina, United States, to seize the incremental market opportunities brought by the U.S. nuclear power expansion. Gaon Cable revealed that its U.S. subsidiary LS Cable & System U.S.A. will add related production equipment at its Tarboro, North Carolina factory. This strategic move aims to establish a localized supply system to respond to the future large-scale commercial nuclear power plants and small...

2026-10-12

The 20th International Nuclear Forum Concludes in Obninsk: Focusing on Nuclear Emergency Preparedness and Response, Rosatom Showcases Nearly 3,000 Professional Emergency Responders

With the support of the Public Council of Rosatom, the 20th International Nuclear Forum "Nuclear Technology Safety: Emergency Preparedness and Response," hosted by the Rosatom Technical Academy, successfully concluded on October 9, 2026, in Obninsk. As the birthplace of the world's first nuclear power plant, Obninsk hosted this milestone annual international event for the first time. The forum attracted more than 100 nuclear safety and emergency experts from Russia and abroad. In addition to Rosatom, the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostechnadzor), Rosenergoatom, the Rosatom Emergency Technical Center, and the NPO Typhoon research and production association...

2026-10-12

US-based Terrestrial Energy Proposes Phased Construction Model to Accelerate Deployment of 390 MW Integrated Molten Salt Reactor

Fourth-generation advanced nuclear developer Terrestrial Energy has recently formally submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) a topical report for the Thermal and Electric Facility (TEF) of its Integrated Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) project. The document proposes a dual-track regulatory review model aimed at allowing key non-nuclear power components of the plant to proceed with construction and enter commercial operation before a full nuclear facility license is obtained. If this regulatory approach is approved by federal regulators, it will effectively break through the economic and approval obstacles that have long constrained the development of the nuclear power industry. In traditional nuclear power projects, because regulatory...

2026-10-12