Author: Fission Today

America has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild its energy backbone. For the first time in decades, capital investment, technological innovation, and bipartisan political will are aligning to modernize the infrastructure that powers our economy. Whether we seize this moment will define our nation’s strength for decades to come. Meeting rising energy demand is both an economic imperative and a matter of national security. If we fail to build, we will strain working families, weaken our national dynamism, and watch competitors abroad move faster to secure energy independence and industrial leadership. This is the time to choose innovation over inertia, building…

A number of questions have been raised in recent months about the tactics and the capabilities of Valar Atomics, a California-based startup. The firm is one of ten competing in a Department of Energy program to show one or more of them can achieve criticality for its nuclear design by next July. Valar Atomics has raised eyebrows with two publicity stunts. The first was a “cold critically” exercise at LLNL which was intended to promote the progress of the reactor design. The second was arranging for the transport of a mock up of its microreactor on a C-17 flying it…

I happened to look at a slide deck from Sandia National Laboratories from 2007 that someone had posted on Reddit late last night (you know, as one does, instead of sleeping), and one particular slide jumped out at me:  It’s a little graphic advertising the different kinds of modeling software that are part of something called the SIERRA framework, as part of a pretty standard “overview” presentation on computer modeling at Sandia that was given at a meeting in Luxembourg. Did you catch the part that made me stop and audibly say, “uhhhhh“? Look at the lower right: So, that…

28 February 2026- The Trump and Netanyahu administrations have launched a massive attack on Iran, using the alleged Iranian nuclear weapons programme as a partial justification. This attack takes place despite claims that the nuclear programme was “obliterated” during the Israeli and U.S. attacks last June and amidst repeated calls from President Donald Trump for a regime change in Iran. ICAN condemns the illegal attack by two nuclear-armed states, the United States and Israel, on Iran. U.S. President Trump announced “major combat operations in Iran” and Israel indicated it was launching a pre-emptive attack on the country earlier today. In…

How will free-spending Ford pay for Ontario’s $400-billion nuclear plans? One of the central unanswered questions about the Doug Ford government’s nuclear expansion plans for Ontario has been: How they will be paid for? Estimates of the capital costs of the government’s plans, based on past projects and recent experiences in the United States and Europe, exceed $400-billion. Mark Winfield, The Globe and Mail, Feb. 24, 2026, Mark Winfield is a professor of environmental and urban change at York University and co-editor of Sustainable Energy Transitions in Canada (UBC Press 2023). One of the central unanswered questions about the Doug Ford government’s nuclear expansion plans for Ontario has…

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has proposed the first dedicated federal licensing framework for commercial fusion machines, setting out a technology‑inclusive, risk‑informed approach under its 10 CFR Part 30 byproduct material rules rather than the power‑reactor framework used for fission plants. The proposed rule seeks to place regulatory oversight of fusion‑generated radioactive material within NRC’s existing materials program, clarifying how tritium, activation products, and other fusion byproducts will be licensed and overseen as the sector moves toward commercial deployment. Published Feb. 26 in the Federal Register as “Regulatory Framework for Fusion Machines,” the proposal would revise the NRC’s existing…

Why Isn’t China a Market Leader in Export of Nuclear Reactors? In terms of building civilian nuclear reactors, China is a global leader at home but its efforts to export two PWR type reactors designs abroad has come up short. At home, China has 60 operating nuclear reactors on its grid (59GW) with another 29 under construction or planned starts (41 GW). In terms exports, China has promoted two designs, an 1,100 MW PWR, the Hualong One, and a 1,400 MW PWR, an upgraded AP1000, the CAP1400. Only three Hualong One’s have been built and all three are in Pakistan…

I realized I haven’t updated things here for a long while, and that it would be worth consolidating a few overdue news updates. First and foremost, if you want to read things from me on a more regular basis, you should be reading Doomsday Machines, which is another blog of mine, and is much more frequently updated that this one. While it is not exactly the same content or approach, you’ll find a lot of things from this blog replicated on there. Because the same person writes both of them. (I still intend to update this blog occasionally, but one…

Four years ago, on 24 February 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For Ukrainians, this week marks the start of a fifth year of war – of loss, displacement and destruction that words can barely describe. Take this opportunity to support nuclear disarmament as part of any peace plan for Ukraine. The answer to the war in Ukraine cannot be to double down on nuclear weapons, but to take action to rule them out. Nuclear danger in the Ukraine war From the start, the war has been fought under explicit nuclear threats from Moscow. With very limited success,…

This week’s NOT the corporate nuclear-related news Some bits of good news – Planting Billions of Trees Turned Barren Desert into a Carbon Sink That Lowers CO2.    Town Enthusiastically Switches to Restorative Justice and Reoffending Almost Vanishes.   Dramatic recovery of various fish species after California’s ban on trawling TOP STORIES  Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate.  What if Nuclear Deterrence was an Obsolete Concept?  Why can’t western leaders accept that they have failed in Ukraine?  Murica: US throws pennies at massive UN debt. Climate. The Apocalyptic President.  Donald Trump has revoked the official doctrine that carbon dioxide is a danger to human health. Brace for Trump’s brave new world…