The US Department of Energy has released a final environmental assessment and draft finding of no significant impact for the design, construction, and operation of the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment, which is to be built by Southern Company at Idaho National Laboratory.

A lead assembly of Framatome's 100% Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel has successfully completed its first cycle of operation at a US nuclear power plant. The assembly was inserted into unit 2 of the Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland during a refueling outage in early 2021.

A study commissioned by the American Bureau of Shipping has explored the potential of advanced nuclear reactor technology for commercial marine propulsion, whilst a study led by UK-based innovative reactor developer Newcleo will consider the feasibility of nuclear applications to the shipping industry, including the firm's small modular lead-cooled fast reactor technology.

The self-contained system, developed by engineers at Idaho National Laboratory in collaboration with industry and government, enables multiple energy sources including small nuclear reactors to be integrated and optimised to ensure a reliable and resilient power supply in remote or off-grid locations, or during emergency situations or power outages.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power announced it has developed the world's first web-based automatic monitoring system to prevent accidents in nuclear reactors and related systems. The company plans to introduce the system to all its nuclear power plants.

A project for a submersible underwater power module, featuring two nuclear power units with a total capacity of 20 MWe, that can dive to a depth of 400 metres and provide energy in Arctic regions is being worked on by the Malakhit Marine Engineering Bureau in St Petersburg, Russia.

A collaboration between the UK Atomic Energy Authority, Dell Technologies, Intel and the University of Cambridge will explore how supercomputers and artificial intelligence technologies with advanced predictive capabilities can deliver a 'digital twin' of the UK's prototype fusion power plant design.

Framatome has signed a collaboration agreement with EDF to test its PROtect enhanced accident tolerant fuel technology. Under the agreement, four lead fuel assemblies will be loaded into one of EDF's French reactors by the end of this year.

A new hourly energy-matching agreement between US company Constellation Energy Corporation and Microsoft will harness the environmental attributes of nuclear to put the data centre in Boydton, Virginia "very close" to the goal of 100% carbon-free operation.

TerraPower Isotopes and Belgian joint venture PanTera have announced a collaboration to increase the global availability of actinium-225, while Arizona-based Serva Energy has developed a new research reactor-based production method to ramp up the supply of the rare radioisotope.

The heavy load handling technology allows modern casks and canisters to be safely loaded, even when they are beyond the limits of the plant's installed cranes, saving time and money over conventional methods, the company said.

An X-ray "flashlight" which would use an energy source based on Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation's EmberCore nuclear chargeable ceramic technology to map the lunar surface has been selected for early-stage funding under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts programme.