Following the hardware race in advanced fission and fusion: small modular reactors, microreactors and private fusion startups, with a focus on US projects and the engineering behind them.
GE Vernova executive Eric Gray said small modular nuclear reactors could give Southeast Asia a strategic advantage, particularly if their power can be integrated into the Asean Power Grid. The excerpt provides no further details on the proposal.
The Commerce Department awarded $175 million to Helion and $85 million to Commonwealth Fusion Systems for semiconductor development, in exchange for non-voting government equity stakes. Helion’s stake is about 1% based on its $15.5 billion valuation; CFS has not disclosed its valuation, leaving the stake size unknown. The deals add to a growing pattern of federal funding tied to equity, raising questions about whether the capital and government backing are worth the dilution and potential complications for future investors.
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The first RITM-200 reactor unit has been started up on Russia’s nuclear icebreaker Chukotka, the fifth Project 22220 vessel, built by the Baltic Shipyard. The ship has two reactors, each producing 175 MW of thermal power; the plant will undergo further testing after both units complete their initial start-ups.
X-energy, Amazon and AEP are studying a 12-unit, 960-MW Xe-100 project at a retired coal plant in Sullivan County, Indiana, while AtkinsRéalis, Indiana and Hoosier Energy have signed an MOU to explore a CANDU reactor campus of up to 6 GW. Radiant was selected by the Navy to deploy a 1-MW microreactor at Naval Weapons Station Crane, and The Nuclear Company proposed a Kentucky site for up to six AP1000 reactors, totaling about 6.6 GW; these projects are mostly at an early or provisional stage. Indiana and Kentucky are also preparing communities to host nuclear projects, with potential service dates generally in the mid-to-late 2030s.
SGE UK and Origin Nuclear, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, signed a letter of intent for Origin to operate SGE’s proposed 14 BWRX-300 small modular reactors at three UK sites. They plan to establish a UK-based operating company, with Origin supporting licensing, commissioning and fleet operations; SGE targets the first unit’s commercial start in 2034.
Helion won a three-year, $175 million Department of Commerce award under the CHIPS Act to develop and manufacture advanced power semiconductors, alongside a newly announced $50 million private investment from an undisclosed investor. The Washington State production line and related research are intended to reduce power losses in future fusion plants; CEO David Kirtley says halving those losses could double output, but the work will not benefit Helion’s Orion plant, which is being built to supply Microsoft by 2028.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems will receive $85 million through a U.S. Department of Commerce CHIPS Act award to develop and manufacture semiconductors for fusion power plants; the award also gives the government a stake in the company. CFS plans to fund work on silicon carbide power electronics, radio-frequency generators, radiation-hardened reactor controls and adapting AI chips for power plants.
The Fusion Report’s Oct. 23 roundup covers six developments: Helion’s letter of intent for up to $175 million in U.S. CHIPS funding, Israel’s draft fusion strategy proposing up to NIS 2 billion in public investment, and Cambridge Heavy Industries’ $6.2 million seed round. It also reports Startorus Fusion’s claimed 63 T/s magnet field-change record, Stellios Technologies’ $5 million pre-seed round, and NeoVolta’s launch of a $40 million energy-storage financing platform.
Slovenské Elektrárne connected Slovakia’s Mochovce-4 reactor to the grid at 20% power on October 15; the 471-MWe unit will undergo further testing before reaching full output. The report also covers Polish reactor projects, Rosatom’s proposed 200-MW floating nuclear plant in Indonesia, the Philippines’ plans for a first nuclear project, and hot functional testing at China’s Linglong One small modular reactor.
Rosatom chief Alexey Likhachev said construction of two planned 1,000 MW reactors in Uzbekistan could move into full-scale operation next year, with the project targeting a 2027 start. The reactors are planned alongside two SMRs under construction in Jizzakh; a 2025 contract revision expanded the proposed plant from six SMRs to a mix of two VVER-1000 units and two SMRs.
The text identifies a YouTube interview with Brandon Sorbom, co-founder of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, about how close fusion energy is to becoming practical. It provides no further details or claims from the interview.
The text only reproduces a headline saying the US plans to award $389 million in research and development funding for fusion power machines and critical materials. It provides no details on the agencies, recipients or funding plans.
Brookhaven National Laboratory, other U.S. Department of Energy facilities and start-up Great Sky demonstrated a superconducting neuromorphic chip that processed DIII-D tokamak data at one million samples per second, flagging anomalies and predicting possible plasma disruptions. The chip has not yet been connected to a working tokamak; the team plans a successor with a neural network 10 times larger.
Westinghouse plans to invest $1 billion in a new facility at its Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in Hopkins, South Carolina, to produce fuel enriched to up to 8 percent uranium-235. The company is targeting annual output of 600 metric tons starting in 2030 and says the LEU+ fuel could extend refueling intervals in existing pressurized water reactors from 18 to 24 months; it has not yet applied for the required NRC license amendment.
Nano Nuclear Energy signed a three-year engineering services agreement with the US subsidiary of Argentina’s IMPSA to assess manufacturing the key components of its 15-MWe Kronos microreactor. The initial six-month study will review the design and fabrication feasibility, including the reactor pressure vessel’s compliance with nuclear-component requirements in the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code.
The text says fusion startup Helion has secured another $225 million to accelerate development of its first power plant, which is scheduled to supply Microsoft with electricity in 2028. It does not provide details about the semiconductors mentioned in the headline or how they might increase output.
A study commissioned by SmartPort, Deltalinqs and public authorities found that 92 companies in and around the Port of Rotterdam could contribute to the small modular reactor supply chain, especially in logistics, heavy transport and non-nuclear components. Engineering firm Tractebel says Rotterdam could begin as a logistics hub, with broader industrial and maritime roles possible as the market and regulations develop; the report recommends a public-private platform and an action plan.
SGE SMR UK and Origin Nuclear plan to establish a UK-based company to license, prepare and operate a proposed fleet of 14 GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors across three sites. Origin, owned by Ontario Power Generation, will bring operating experience from the first BWRX-300 under construction in Canada; SGE says the 4.2 GW UK programme could begin commercial operation in 2034.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems says it has signed a letter of intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce for a proposed $85 million award under the CHIPS and Science Act. The funding would support five areas of U.S. microelectronics development—including silicon-carbide power electronics, solid-state radio-frequency generators, AI controls and radiation-hardened components—for CFS’s SPARC and planned ARC fusion machines, with potential uses in other industries.
Helion signed a letter of intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce for up to $175 million in CHIPS R&D funding, alongside $50 million in private investment, to develop high-voltage semiconductors and manufacturing capabilities for its fusion systems. The work includes more than $100 million for research and advanced packaging in Everett, Washington, and about $80 million for semiconductor tooling and process development with an industry partner in Burlington, Vermont.
Supercritical Materials, led by uranium-industry veteran Canon Bryan, has licensed a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory technology to extract uranium from seawater and plans a Gulf of Mexico facility producing 1.85 million pounds annually. The company says its preliminary economic work suggests production could be profitable at today’s uranium prices; it is targeting a final investment decision in 2029 and industrial-scale operations in 2033.
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Type One Energy says its Infinity Two fusion plant is designed to produce tritium in a lithium breeder blanket while capturing heat and shielding equipment. In a peer-reviewed paper in the *Journal of Fusion Science and Technology*, the company’s researchers propose that future fusion fleets could use a mix of plants focused on breeding tritium and plants focused on generating power.
The Nuclear Company proposed Prosperity One, a campus in Lewis County, Kentucky, that could host up to six Westinghouse AP1000 reactors with a stated capacity of 6.6 GW. The company says it has secured control of a site and aims to seek federal approvals for construction to begin in 2028, but has not disclosed costs, utility partners, licensing plans or a commercial-operation date.
AEP and X-energy will assess a 960-MW Indiana nuclear plant using 12 of X-energy’s 80-MW Xe-100 reactors at or near the retired Breed coal station; construction would require a final investment decision. Amazon plans to fund development and buy the plant’s power under a long-term agreement intended to cover project costs and shield AEP customers from them, making this the second project in Amazon and X-energy’s plan to develop more than 5 GW of U.S. nuclear capacity by 2039.
Westinghouse says it has begun construction on a roughly $1 billion LEU+ fuel manufacturing expansion at its Columbia, South Carolina, site, with production expected to start in 2030. The fuel, enriched to 5%–8% uranium-235, could enable reactor refuelling cycles of up to 24 months; the company estimates the project could generate $4.9 billion in state economic activity over 10 years.
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Radiant announced that the Department of the Navy selected its Kaleidos 1-megawatt transportable microreactor for a planned deployment at Naval Weapons Station Crane in Indiana. The project must still proceed through design, testing, environmental review, site preparation and regulatory coordination before deployment.
Austrian start-up Emerald Horizon plans to launch battery storage deliveries in 2026 and molten-salt thermal storage in 2028, while developing an accelerator-driven thorium generator it says could produce 10 MW of electricity per module. The generator remains at an early development stage, with a prototype targeted for 2029 and a demonstration plant for 2031; its safety, economics and regulatory pathway have not yet been demonstrated or settled.
