The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has received its first licence application for a small modular reactor . The application from Global First Power, with support from Ontario Power Generation and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, supports a proposal to deploy a Micro Modular Reactor plant at Chalk River in Ontario.
 

China's Ministry of Environment is proceeding with the environmental impact assessment for a project to build an ACP100 small modular reactor at Changjiang, Hainan, with construction to begin by the end of this year.

Fermi Energia of Estonia has selected Moltex Energy as its preferred technology for its plans to establish carbon-free energy production in the Baltic region. Moltex Energy said yesterday that the two companies had signed a Memorandum of Understanding which expresses their intention to work together.

An agreement between US small modular reactor developer NuScale Power and Romanian energy company Societata Nationala Nuclearelectrica SA to explore the use of SMRs in Romania has been welcomed by the US Department of Energy.

The US Department of Energy Loan Programs Office has invited X-energy to submit the second part of its application for a loan guarantee for the construction of a facility to fabricate TRISO-X fuel.

The US Department of Energy has launched its Versatile Fast Neutron Source project to provide fast neutron testing capability to aid US development of advanced nuclear reactor technology. The Versatile Test Reactor, as it is also known, could be completed by 2026.

Holtec International has made progress with its work on an SMR-160 system through agreements with Energoatom and Exelon Generation announced during the winter meeting of the Holtec Advisory Council for SMR-160, held on 8 February in Jupiter, Florida.

Two further respondents - StarCore Nuclear and Terrestrial Energy - have advanced to the second stage of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories' process to site a small modular reactor (SMR) demonstration unit at one of its managed campuses.

Advanced nuclear reactors are part of a "critical subset" of technologies deemed to have very high breakthrough potential for the USA to transition to a "clean energy ecosystem", according to a new report. Meanwhile, a resolution introduced in both the US House and Senate proposes a framework for meeting 100% of the country's power demand through clean, renewable and zero-emissions energy resources.

NRG is to carry out testing of materials, including graphite, for key components of Terrestrial Energy's Integral Molten Salt Reactor power plant in the High-Flux Reactor at Petten in the Netherlands under a contract announced on 5 February.

Enrichment company Urenco USA has announced a new programme covering the production of high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU), and is considering the construction of a dedicated HALEU unit at its US uranium enrichment facility.

The US Department of Energy has completed an environmental assessment clearing the way for the fabrication of high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel for advanced nuclear reactors at the Idaho National Laboratory. Meanwhile, the US Department of Defense has issued a Request for Information for a small mobile reactor using HALEU fuel to provide electrical power in rapid response scenarios.