Oklo Inc has announced a USD2 million cost-share award from the US Department of Energy supported by the Technology Commercialisation Fund. Oklo is matching USD1 million in funds in a public-private partnership with the DOE and Argonne National Laboratory. The TCF project will enable the commercialisation of advanced fuel recycling capabilities by utilising electrorefining technology.

The UK must develop advanced nuclear fuels and fuel cycle technologies in order to meet its clean energy ambitions, according to a new series of roadmaps released by the National Nuclear Laboratory. The roadmaps, it says, will enable UK policy makers and industry to plan for the future of nuclear in delivering net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Nuclear Research & Consultancy Group of the Netherlands will conduct a programme of irradiation tests on Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation's proprietary Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated fuel at the High Flux Reactor in Petten. The aim of the tests is to demonstrate the safety of the fuel for the 20-year lifespan of the USNC's Micro Modular Reactor.

Fusion energy developer Helion Energy said yesterday it has become the first private company to announce exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius in its sixth fusion generator prototype, Trenta. It also announced its Trenta prototype recently finished a 16-month testing campaign, completing almost 10,000 high-power pulses.

Construction of the Beishan Underground Research Laboratory has begun near Jiuquan City in China's Gansu province, the China Atomic Energy Authority has announced. The laboratory - which will be situated in granite up to 560 metres below ground level in the Gobi desert - will be used to test the suitability of the area for the long-term storage of the high-level radioactive waste.

Preserving the existing fleet of nuclear plants, driving the development of advanced reactors and investing in nuclear R&D are all essential to the USA's clean energy transition, Jennifer Granholm, secretary of the US Department of Energy, stressed this week. Speaking at the annual general meeting of the American Nuclear Society, Granholm told nuclear industry workers and students watching the webinar: "We need you".

The European Organisation for Nuclear Research has completed the acceptance testing of Russian-made niobium-tin superconductors made as part of the Future Circular Collider CERN Conductor Development Programme. TVEL, the nuclear fuel manufacturer subsidiary of Russia's Rosatom, said the high performance of the wire fully complies with the CERN specification.

Nuclear experts at The University of Manchester have identified the eight actions required to assess objectively the role of nuclear in the UK's net-zero future. Their position paper Nuclear energy for net zero: a strategy for action determines what policymakers and industry need to explore in order to take an informed decision based on a 'best economics' basis. This includes the development of advisory bodies, non-partisan modelling of the economic path, and the optimisation of R&D programmes.

The possible roles of advanced nuclear energy in meeting the UK’s legally binding net zero by 2050 target are not well understood and need to be clarified urgently, write Francis Livens, Gregg Butler, Juan Matthews and William Bodel of The University of Manchester’s Dalton Nuclear Institute.

A Canadian innovation organisation has launched a new study into the role of nuclear power in supporting a growing hydrogen economy. The Nuclear Innovation Institute study will be the first of its kind in Canada to evaluate the technical viability and business case for hydrogen production from emissions-free nuclear power.

NNL, the UK’s national laboratory for nuclear fission, has today launched its new Strategic Plan: This is NNL. With legally binding targets in the UK to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and more than 120 other countries moving towards the same goal, it is "impossible to overestimate the scale of the challenge ahead", NNL said.

Canadian company Kinectrics has announced plans to design, build and operate a collaborative clean energy innovation campus, Helius, which will amongst other things provide infrastructure needed to support the development, testing and commercialisation of small modular reactors. The new campus is to be sited alongside Kinectrics’ existing laboratories in Toronto, Ontario.