Author: Fission Today

Households and businesses served by investor-owned utilities pay billions of dollars in profits to utility investors each year. Until now, no one has put a precise number on how much of an electric bill is made up of that profit. Using publicly reported financial data, this report provides the first systematic look at how much of each dollar spent on electricity ultimately goes to investors. EPI analyzed financial data from 110 investor-owned operating electric utilities nationwide between 2021 and 2024, including several utilities that bill customers jointly for electric and gas service. We also incorporated 2025 filings for 79 investor-owned…

Curiosity-driven research has long sparked technological transformations. A century ago, curiosity about atoms led to quantum mechanics, and eventually the transistor at the heart of modern computing. Conversely, the steam engine was a practical breakthrough, but it took fundamental research in thermodynamics to fully harness its power. Today, artificial intelligence and science find themselves at a similar inflection point. The current AI revolution has been fueled by decades of research in the mathematical and physical sciences (MPS), which provided the challenging problems, datasets, and insights that made modern AI possible. The 2024 Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry, recognizing foundational AI…

2025 marked 80 years since the first detonation and use of nuclear weapons. Geo-political tensions were on the rise, with pro-nuclear weapons countries increasingly trying to legitimise nuclear weapons and expand their scope in security strategies. It also was the year that the global majority of nations committed to the ultimate rejection of these bombs- the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Source link

(Note: Original Draft was updated and edited on 3/10/26 and 3/11/26) On March 9, 2026, the First Appellate District affirmed in full the CPUC’s D.22-12-026 decision in Center for Biological Diversity v. Public Utilities Commission (Case No. A167721). The First Appellate District original opinion affirming the CPUC decision was appealed to the California Supreme Court, which issued an opinion  in August 2025 not on the questions specific to the CPUC’s action on NEM 3.0’s net billing tariff and related matters (See CPUC D. 22-12-056; See Proceeding Docket for R. 20-08-020), but on how appellate courts are to apply the judicial…

‘Punching them while they’re down’: US & Israel bomb Iran’s schools & hospitals, with ‘no stupid rules of engagement’ Hegseth bragged that the US is fighting with “no stupid rules of engagement”. By his admission, the Pentagon is purposefully targeting civilian areas, and does not care about the rules of war. The US & Israel bombed 20 schools & 13 hospitals in Iran in 1 week. War Secretary Pete Hegseth boasted of unleashing “death and destruction” to provoke collapse, with “no stupid rules of engagement”. Ben Norton, Mar 09, 2026 The United States and Israel are intentionally devastating civilian areas…

The post Duke Energy’s political donations pay off through rate hikes appeared first on Energy and Policy Institute. Source link

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on March 4 authorized staff to issue a construction permit for TerraPower’s Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1 in Kemmerer, Wyoming—the first commercial reactor the agency has approved for construction in nearly a decade, and the first approval for a commercial non–light water reactor design in more than 40 years. The permit was issued to US SFR Owner LLC (USO), a wholly owned TerraPower subsidiary, which filed the application in March 2024, requesting authorization to build the hybrid sodium-cooled advanced reactor on a site near PacifiCorp’s retiring Naughton coal plant in Kemmerer. NRC staff accepted the…

DOE to Make Mixed Oxide Fuel at Savanah River Site to Boost HALEU Supplies SRNL to Recover Isotopes from Legacy Nuclear Materials Q&A Interview with ZetaJoule About its High Temperature Research Reactor ONE Nuclear Energy  IPO plans to Fund SMR Expected in 2026 Copenhagen Atomics Secures Thorium Supply from Norway DOE to Make MOX Fuel at SRS DOE’s Office of Environmental Management Restarts One-of-a-Kind Facility in South Carolina to Fuel America’s Nuclear Future The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) announced the decision to restart HB-Line operations at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina.…

I have been busy this summer (and spring, and the winter before that… and the fall before that… and the summer before that…), but one of the things I’ve been busy with has finally launched: Doomsday Machines, a new blog dedicated to exploring the post-apocalyptic imagination from several different perspectives. It will include discussions of post-apocalyptic media, documents that shed light on how governments thought and think about the end of the world, and explorations of the task of creating practical “models” for what the end of the world could look like. Among other exciting things. If you’re interested in…

French President Macron has announced that France will increase its nuclear arsenal at a speech today at the naval port hosting French nuclear armed submarines. He also said the new French nuclear doctrine could “provide for the temporary deployment of elements of our strategic air forces to allied countries,” though affirmed that control over the weapons would remain in French hands. In a joint declaration issued today, President Macron and Chancellor Merz have agreed to increase French-German cooperation, including “German conventional participation in French nuclear exercises and joint visits to strategic sites” and “consultations regarding the appropriate mix of conventional,…