Author: Fission Today

On this day 40 years ago, an explosion at reactor 4 at the Chornobyl nuclear power station released radioactive contamination across Europe, forcing entire communities to abandon their homes, and leaving a toxic legacy that endures to this day. The consequences did not end as the story faded from the headlines. Lives and livelihoods were lost, land remains uninhabitable, and the clean-up continues to carry enormous human and financial costs. This is not simply a commemoration of a past event, 40 years later, this is an ongoing nuclear emergency. School #2 in the city of Pripyat, picture taken in October…

California’s three investor-owned utility monopolies have a lot riding on the outcome of the state’s first open race for governor since 2018, with their soaring electric bills taking center-stage in the race, and candidates offering different rhetoric and proposals for how to lower customers’ bills.  The companies – Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) – have thus far not contributed directly to any of the Republicans or Democrats running in the state’s open multi-party primary.  But PG&E has spent nearly $10 million on a negative advertising campaign against leading Democratic…

Zap Energy, a fusion energy startup based in Everett, WA, startled the energy industry this week with an unprecedented announcement that it is doubling down on atomic energy by starting work on a 10 MW sodium cooled advanced reactor in addition to its ongoing work on a fusion energy machine. Accordiong to a report by GeekWire, the company’s approach builds on technology from the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II), developed and tested over decades at the Idaho National Laboratory. The strategy was later adopted by Toshiba for its 4S (Super-Safe, Small and Simple) reactor. Zap said it is now revitalizing the…

As states gather for the 2026 NPT Review Conference, there is little expectation that much will be achieved. Two consecutive review conferences have ended without agreement. The nuclear arsenals that the treaty was designed to eliminate are being expanded. And the states most loudly defending the NPT’s importance are, in many cases, the same ones failing to honour its central obligation. ICAN’s new Cornerstone Report documents exactly how this happened, and what can still be done to implement the NPT’s promise on non-proliferation and disarmament. When the NPT was negotiated, the geopolitical stakes couldn’t have been higher. Five states had…

Utilities in Nevada are backing Republican Governor Joe Lombardo with their checkbooks in his reelection bid in the 2026 gubernatorial race. No other candidates in the race for Nevada’s next governor received utility contributions this cycle – including Democratic challenger and current Attorney General, Aaron Ford. Southwest Gas and NV Energy give $40,000 to Governor Lombardo and his PAC Lombardo raised significant contributions in the first quarter of 2026, including through his political action committee, Nevada Way. Throughout 2025 and this year to date, the sitting governor received some of NV Energy and Southwest Gas’s highest contributions to any candidate.…

From the 1953 Coup to Today: Jeffrey Sachs Explains America’s Endless War on Iran  April 25, 2026 Joshua Scheer, Jeffrey Sachs doesn’t raise his voice — he doesn’t have to. In this wide‑ranging conversation with Tucker Carlson, Sachs lays out a devastating, historically grounded indictment of U.S. foreign policy, the manufactured “Iran threat,” and the decades‑long fusion of American empire with Israel’s regional ambitions. What emerges is not a hot take but a cold, clinical autopsy of a war machine that has slipped beyond democratic control. From the 1953 coup to the present blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Sachs traces how…

Six MIT affiliates — Denisse Córdova Carrizales SM ’26; Ria Das ’21, MNG ’22; Ronak Desai; Stacy Godfreey-Igwe ’22; Arya Rao; and Ananthan Sadagopan ’24 — have been named 2026 P.D. Soros Fellows. In addition, P.D. Soros Fellow Avinash Vadali will begin a PhD in condensed-matter physics at MIT this fall.The fellowship provides immigrants and the children of immigrants up to $90,000 in tuition and stipend support for up to two years of graduate studies. Interested students should contact Kim Benard, associate dean of distinguished fellowships in Career Advising and Professional Development.Denisse Córdova CarrizalesCórdova Carrizales SM ’26 is a PhD…

A U.S.-based fusion energy company has become the first such firm to apply to join a major power grid operator. Massachusetts-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) on April 28 said it has submitted an application to connect its ARC power plant to PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest wholesale electricity market. CFS on Tuesday said the application marks the first time a fusion power plant developer has requested an interconnection with a power grid operator. PJM serves more than 65 million customers across 13 states and the District of Columbia. CFS, which has raised almost $3 billion in capital since it was…

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Kyiv, Ukraine – Forty years after the Chornobyl disaster spread radioactive contamination across Europe, the risks it exposed have evolved in a world shaped by war, geopolitical tension and more frequent extreme weather, where the vulnerability of nuclear power is abundantly clear. The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine has brought these risks into sharp focus, with nuclear power stations operating in warzones where critical infrastructure is targeted, underscoring the challenges of relying on large, centralised energy systems in an increasingly unstable environment. “Forty years after the start of the Chornobyl disaster, we are still living its consequences. The severe risks…