Nuclear Notes is produced by the Breakthrough Institute, and covers the policy, regulation, technology, and business of advanced nuclear energy in the United States and beyond.
Every Thursday, we track what’s really going on in the field: the new rules moving through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the advanced reactors moving from design to deployment, the companies going public and the utilities merging, and the executive orders and acts of Congress reshaping how the country builds. We explain not just what happened, but why it matters and how the pieces fit together.
What Do the Midterm Election Results Mean for Nuclear Energy?
The lame-duck session begins on November 9th, but nuclear energy is not positioned to be a major focus of the session, which will have only five or six weeks of legislative time. Congress did not complete a budget this spring, and temporary funding runs out on December 11. In addition, the National Defense Authorization Act, which is always considered “must pass” legislation, and is supposed to cover the federal fiscal year that began on October 1, has not passed. Members of Congress unhappy with the war in Iran have voted against it.
A bill to replace the Biden-era Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which expired at the end of September, is also awaiting action by Congress, as is the farm bill, so both houses could be fully occupied before they have time to think about nuclear energy.
One bill that might see action in the lame-duck session is designed to reform permitting rules. This is not focused on nuclear energy but would affect it. The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, or BAAJA, would expedite environmental reviews required under the National Environmental Policy Act, and strengthen the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve power lines, even over local objections.
In August, we wrote that it was not clear how much Congress would accomplish before the November elections on the nuclear front; as it turns out, it wasn’t much. But there are still several issues of strong interest to the nuclear industry that Congress could take up in the lame-duck. Since August, the House has been sitting on six nuclear bills that would revise NRC licensing and DOE nuclear reporting. The Senate has also considered various nuclear proposals on topics such as nuclear construction and materials, financing, international nuclear cooperation, nuclear fuel, and domestic and foreign nuclear investment. The Senate recently moved on the Modernizing Outdated Regulations to Expand American Fuel Act of 2026 (MORE American Fuel Act), passing it out of the Senate in late September.
When the 120th Congress begins in January, several other nuclear issues should be addressed.
One is the law governing spent nuclear fuel. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, passed and amended in the last century, makes the federal government responsible for building a waste repository, and says it will be at Yucca Mountain and Yucca Mountain only. After years of legislative deadlock, the Trump administration has proposed “Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses,” where the private sector would accept fuel, process it to recover materials that could be reused, solidify the remainder, and perhaps bury it. The campuses could also fabricate new fuel and could include reactors to use said fuel. The proposal is still in the early stages but hinges on amendments to the NWPA, among other factors. Elected officials from some states that are considering hosting the campuses are pushing for the change.
A second area in need of attention is help from Washington in financing new reactors. The Breakthrough Institute has its own proposal, under which developers would get subsidized loans, and the size of the subsidy—that is, the amount by which the interest rate would be lowered—would increase as the project met certain milestones. The proposal, called Accelerating Commercialization Through Incentivizing On-Time Nuclear (ACTION), is under discussion on Capitol Hill, among other financing tools.
The third area is the rules governing Power Purchase Agreements signed by the federal government, which is a significant market for electricity on its own. Except for the Pentagon, most agencies are barred from signing contracts longer than 15 or 20 years. A 40-year contract would help a reactor developer move forward with a project. The idea of extending the maximum length of such contracts has been around for a while, but Congress hasn’t acted.
The other effect of the midterms will be a change in committee leadership in the next Congress. The Democratic majority in the Senate seems likely to choose Martin Heinrich, of New Mexico, as Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he is now the ranking minority member. He is generally supportive of nuclear energy. But at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, either Ed Markey of Massachusetts or Jeff Merkley of Oregon, both nuclear skeptics, are likely to lead the committee. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, current Chair of EPW, is almost certain to stay on as ranking member.
In the House, Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey is likely to take the gavel of the Energy and Commerce Committee. In fact, he has already announced his bid for Chairman. He was a sponsor of the bipartisan ADVANCE Act, which called for streamlined licensing and an update of the NRC’s mission statement. But at times, he seems to be playing to an anti-nuclear audience.
Three Steps Toward Fuel for Advanced Reactors
A Centrus Energy factory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, has begun shipping centrifuges to the company’s enrichment plant in southern Ohio, a development that Centrus says completes its supply chain and sets it up for massive expansion.
Centrus is the only American source for “unobligated” enriched uranium, meaning that it can be sold for civilian or military use. The only other operating enrichment plant in the United States, in New Mexico, is owned by Urenco, a British-Dutch-German consortium. Urenco announced it had produced its first commercial batch of “LEU+,” which is uranium enriched to between five and ten percent, and intended for current-generation reactors. The higher enrichment level could allow for longer refueling intervals, or use of coatings on the fuel that increase heat tolerance.
Centrus has been producing HALEU, or uranium enriched to nearly 20 percent, the boundary between civilian and military enrichment levels, since late 2023, and in January of this year announced a $560 million investment in its centrifuge factory. Centrus has contracts to sell enriched uranium to Oklo, Antares, X-energy, and others.
And ARPA-E, the Department of Energy’s version of the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, announced grants of $50 million for early-stage work on recycling transuranics into advanced reactor fuel for 8 projects.
Transuranic elements are elements that have a higher atomic number than uranium. Transuranics form during reactor operation when uranium atoms absorb neutrons and undergo subsequent radioactive decay. Some of them have exceptionally long half-lives, so removing them from used fuel makes disposal of the remainder easier.
ARPA-E is intended for early-stage work on projects that could deliver big rewards but are too financially risky for private investors. The projects address the fuel needs of several types of reactors. Standard Nuclear, for example, will work on how to incorporate transuranics into TRISO fuel, the “pebbles” that encapsulate fuel kernels in concentric layers of heat-resistant materials, for use in high-temperature reactors cooled by gas or molten salt. Texas A&M will develop a liquid, thorium-based fuel salt for use in molten salt reactors. Oklo will develop a fuel made of uranium, transuranics, and zirconium for use in its sodium-cooled reactors.
“By putting existing nuclear materials to productive use, we can strengthen our domestic fuel supply and reduce our reliance on foreign suppliers,” said James P. Danly, Deputy Secretary of Energy, in a statement. “These investments will help lower fuel costs, accelerate the deployment of advanced reactors, and ensure American nuclear innovation translates into more affordable, reliable power for American families and businesses.”
Some of the projects backed by ARPA-E could produce fuel for current-generation reactors. Westinghouse was selected for a $7 million grant to advance 3D printing of metallic nuclear fuel. The new fuel could help increase the refueling interval for pressurized water reactors from 18 months to 24.
Energy Secretary Says Palisades Restart is Near
Chris Wright, the Secretary of Energy, spoke at Palisades, the nuclear plant closed by Entergy in 2022, which is being restarted by Holtec, the company that was hired to tear it down. He said that the restart could begin by the end of this month.
The plant would be the first to be decommissioned and then restarted. It has hit several snags along the way, including a fuel assembly that tilted from its upright position after installation in the reactor vessel; that fuel assembly has now been removed.
The plant will go through a deliberate program of power ascension before returning to full power, more than 800 megawatts.
The Xe-100 Nears a Construction Permit…
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has released a Final Safety Evaluation Report for the gas-graphite reactor that X-energy plans to build for Dow at a chemical plant in Texas, clearing the way for a construction permit. The NRC completed its environmental review in May, issuing an Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact.
The small modular reactor has a pebble-bed core and will provide high-temperature steam and may also make electricity. It is the second of the two flagship projects under the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program; the other is the Natrium fast reactor in Wyoming. The company says it will be the first grid-scale advanced reactor in U.S. history built to serve an industrial facility.
The Xe-100 will use TRISO fuel, and X-energy says it will pursue an emergency planning zone of 400 meters, compared to the 10 miles for current-generation light-water reactors.
…And Is Ordering Long Lead-Time Components
In another sign of progress, X-energy has ordered stainless steel tubing for a steam generator for its reactor. Unlike in a pressurized water reactor, which has water from the primary coolant system inside the tubes, and clean, non-radioactive water outside, to be boiled into steam, in the X-energy design, the tubes carry the inert gas that draws heat from the pebble-bed core.
The order is from Alleima, which manufactures advanced stainless steel and special alloys, and Doosan Enerbility, a South Korean reactor component builder.
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