Duke Energy Submits Early Site Permit at Coal Plant Site

• Duke Energy Submits Early Site Permit at Coal Plant Site
• Wyoming Awards $100 Million for BWXT TRISO Fuel Plant
• Centrus Launches Commercial LEU Enrichment Activities
• Urenco USA Produces First LEU+ Fuel
• Bulgaria And Poland Companies Set Joint Venture for BWRX-300 SMR
• Turkey Lands $9 billion in Finance from Rosatom for Akkuyu
• Japan Plans To Restart Unit 6 At Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Station Next Month
• China Begins Work on Two More Nuclear Power Plants
• TAE, UKAEA Create Joint Venture for Fusion Energy

Duke Energy Submits Early Site Permit at Coal Plant Site

• The company’s application includes six potential reactor technologies, including four small modular reactor designs and two non-light-water designs. Large light-water reactors, similar to the 11 units Duke Energy currently operates in the Carolinas, are not included in the permit application. The first small modular reactor would come online no earlier than 2036
• The early site permit application was submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on 12/30/25. The review and approval process takes about 18 months. Once the permit is received, likely in 2027, it remains valid for 20 years and may be renewed for up to 20 more years.
• The application opens the door to licensing activities while reducing costs and risks for customers and investors. Though licensing activities at the Belews Creek, N.C., site are progressing, the company has not yet selected a reactor technology or decided to build new nuclear units at the site.

Duke Energy Service Area: Map Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) announced its submission of an early site permit (ESP) application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a site near the Belews Creek Steam Station in Stokes County, N.C., culminating two years of work. The submittal is part of the company’s strategic commitment to evaluate new nuclear generation options to reliably meet the growing energy needs of its customers while reducing costs and risks.

Stokes County has been home to the 2,220 MW Belews Creek Steam Station for more than 50 years. With the current units scheduled to retire in the late 2030s, the 2.24-GW, two-unit coal-fired generating facility is Duke Energy’s largest coal-burning power plant in the Carolinas.

In response to a North Carolina regulatory order, Duke Energy modeled large light-water reactors in the Carolinas Resource Plan filed on Oct. 1, 2025, in addition to small modular reactors. To meet projected growth, new nuclear generation is needed on line by 2037, either 600 MW from two small modular reactors at the Belews Creek, N.C., site or one 1,117-megawatt AP1000 unit at the William States Lee III site in Cherokee County, S.C. (with additional units to follow in both scenarios).

Duke’s ESP filing with the NRC only references small modular reactors, e.g., 300 MW, and the usual preapplication filings. Duke first contacted the NRC about the ESP in February 2024. A regulatory engagement plan ML25238A036 was filed inAugust 2025.

No Large Reactors in Duke’s Future

The utility said in its press statement that decision on which nuclear technology the company will pursue at the coal plant site in North Carolina will be made in the future after evaluating financial and technical risk factors. One big risk that Duke seems very intent on avoiding is building any 1,000 MW scale reactors.

In the ESP submitted last week the company did not include large reactors like the AP1000 as being under consideration for the Belews Creek site. Perhaps one reason is that more than any other utility, Duke shrank the size of it planned future fleet of large reactors by nearly 8 GW between 2012 and 2018.

William States Lee was at one time slated for twin AP1000s. The company received a combined license (Part 52 construction and operation) from the NRC in 2016. Duke suspended work on a COL for twin AP1000s at the Shearon-Harris site in North Carolina (twin AP1000s), and as a result of its acquisition of Progress Energy in 2012 terminated the COLs for twin AP1000s at the Levy County, Florida site in 2018. In summary, the utility cancelled 4.6 GW of planned reactor construction and put another 2.3 GW on ice indefinitely.

A serious event in Duke’s acquisiton of Progress Energy was the assumption of the damaged Crystal River -3, an 860-MW pressurized water reactor unit that began commercial operation in 1968. Instead of using a special team with expertise in replacing steam generators, Progress opted to save money by using inhouse engineers. The result was severe damage to the containment structure. Duke permanently shut down Crystal River in 2013 after an analysis of the damaged containment structure determined it was too expensive to repair.

Duke’s ESP Strateguy is Built Around Risk Mitigation

The ESP is technology neutral, allowing Duke Energy to receive the permit and select a technology later in the development process. The company’s application includes six potential reactor technologies, including four small modular reactor designs and two non-light-water designs.

Submitting an ESP application is a first for Duke Energy and a risk-mitigation strategy for the company as it pursues new nuclear generation options. An ESP is an optional NRC process that resolves environmental and site safety topics on the front end of a project and confirms a site’s suitability for new nuclear generation. Having an approved permit reduces the risk of delays during licensing and construction if the company decides to build new nuclear units in Stokes County in the future.

Duke Energy said in its press statement that pursuing the permit also provides more time for SMR light water and advanced reactor technologies to evolve and mature, while allowing the company to continue progressing through necessary licensing activities. Duke has plenty of time to make up it mind.

While Duke Energy has yet to make a decision to build new nuclear units, receiving an ESP provides future options for the company’s customers and the communities it serves. If additional evaluation confirms small modular reactor technology at the Belews Creek site offers the best value for customers, the company also plans to add 600 MW of advanced nuclear to the system by 2037. Thes units will be separate from SMRs. Development of the first small modular reactor has it coming on line in 2036. This date suggests that the first SMR won’t break ground before 2033.

Duke  submitted the early site permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on 12/30/25. The review and approval process takes about 18 months. Once the permit is received, likely in 2027, it remains valid for 20 years and may be renewed for up to 20 more years.

About Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. The company’s electric utilities serve 8.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 55,100 MW of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky.

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Wyoming Awards $100 Million for BWXT TRISO Fuel Plant

Governor Mark Gordon and the Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) have approved $100 million in Large Project Energy Matching Funds (LPEMF) for BWXT to develop a nuclear fuel fabrication facility in Gillette, WY. This project will produce commercial quantities of TRISO fuel for advanced nuclear reactors.

The funding originates from 2024 legislative appropriations specifically designated for energy projects. BWXT is projected to invest more than $400 million to reach full operational scale, exceeding the minimum matching requirement.

The project integrates fuel fabrication into Wyoming’s existing “front end” fuel cycle, which currently focuses on uranium extraction. Northeast Wyoming contains the country’s largest known uranium reserves. Five of the top-producing uranium mines in the U.S. are located within 70 miles of the Gillette site.

The project requires a 40-year license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Given that the NRC often grants extensions — with some U.S. facilities operating for 70 years — Wyoming officials anticipate this will be a multi-decadal facility.

This investment follows the Federal government’s “Prohibiting Uranium Imports Act of 2024,” which banned Russian fuel imports and increased the demand for domestic supply chains16. Wyoming currently holds approximately 54% of the U.S. uranium market share. By adding TRISO fuel fabrication, the state seeks to reduce national reliance on foreign fuel and support the deployment of next-generation nuclear reactors.

The TRISO Fuel Manufacturing Process

In order for the BWXT plant to fabricate fuel from uranium mined in Wyoming, the material has to go through several steps to get it in the right form to make TRISO fuel.

The Nuclear Fuel Fuel Cycle. Image: U.S. NRC

First, the uranium ore that is mined in Wyoming has go through a separation process to extract the uranium from the ore annd turn it into a powder form called “yellowcake.” Next, the yellowcake is shipped to a conversion facility to be turned into a gas form called uranium hexafluoride or UF6. The gas is then shipped to an enrichment plant where U235, the fissile isotope of uranium, is accumulated using centrifuges to at least 3-5% U235. Then the UF6 goes back to the conversion plant where it is turned into a new powder form suitable for making TRISO pellets. Finally, the powder is sent to the BWXT plant where the TRISO fuel is fabricated and then shipped to customers.

TRISO fuel is frequently described by the Department of Energy as “the most robust nuclear fuel on Earth” due to its intrinsic safety features. Each fuel particle is roughly the size of a poppy seed. It consists of a uranium kernel (typically uranium oxycarbide or uranium nitride) encased in three layers of carbon- and ceramic-based materials, including silicon carbide.

These layers act as an individual containment system for each particle, retaining fission products and resisting corrosion even under extreme heat. The fuel can withstand temperatures exceeding the threshold of current nuclear fuels, which prevents the core from melting even if the reactor loses its coolant.

Fuel Variants: BWXT is developing two primary forms of TRISO fuel

• UCO TRISO: Uranium Oxycarbide, currently used for the Department of Defense’s Project Pele microreactor.
• UN TRISO: Uranium Nitride, designed for higher uranium density and longer reactor lifespans in Generation IV reactors.

About the BWXT Facility

Construction is projected to begin around 2027, following an 18-to-24-month permitting process, with the facility becoming operational by late 2030 or 2031.

The planned facility in Gillette is designed to move TRISO from specialized, small-batch production to a fully commercialized supply chain. The complex is envisioned to be between 150,000 and 250,000 square feet. It will include manufacturing space, chemical storage, and wastewater treatment. Because the facility will handle uranium enriched to less than 20% (HALEU), it requires a Category II license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

BWXT has stated the facility will not create, store, or handle high-level nuclear waste or spent fuel, as it operates exclusively on the “front end” of the fuel cycle (fabricating fresh fuel).

At full operation, the facility will support 200 direct jobs with an estimated annual payroll of $20 million. Economic modeling suggests an additional 194 indirect and induced jobs, contributing another $20 million in annual payroll to the region.

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Centrus Launches Commercial LEU Enrichment Activities

• Multi-billion-dollar uranium enrichment capacity expansion expected to create manufacturing jobs and drive U.S. exports. New enrichment capacity is expected to come online in 2029

Centrus Energy (NYSE:LEU) announced that it has begun domestic centrifuge manufacturing to support commercial Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) enrichment activities at its Piketon, OH, facility. Centrus plans to leverage its multi-billion-dollar uranium enrichment expansion to meet its growing backlog of $2.3 billion in contingent LEU sales to U.S. and international customer contracts, and targets future commercial-scale production of High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) as well.

A gas centrifuge cascade for the production of HALEU at Centrus’s plant in Piketon, OH. Image: Centrus.

Centrus’ expansion is underpinned by public and private funding along with commercial contracts, a framework that includes:

Department of Energy funding: Centrus is a finalist for Task Orders from the Department of Energy for both LEU production and HALEU production – which the Department has indicated could be ~$900 million per task order.

Private capital: Centrus raised $1.2 billion via convertible note transactions in November 2024 and August 2025, reported a cash balance of more than $1.6 billion as of September 30, 2025, and recently launched a $1 billion at-the-market offering.

Customer contracts: Centrus has secured $2.3 billion in contracts and commitments from U.S. and international customers aimed at supporting new, U.S. uranium enrichment capacity. These agreements are contingent upon Centrus realizing certain milestones towards building the new capacity. Centrus continues to pursue additional LEU and HALEU sales opportunities.

Third party investment: This represents another potential avenue to secure low cost of capital financing while maximizing capacity. Centrus said there is continued, growing interest from the market to secure future enrichment offtake by investing in new enrichment capacity.

Direct foreign investment: Centrus announced a proposed partnership with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and POSCO International in August 2025 to explore potential investment in new enrichment capacity in Ohio. The company continues to pursue efforts in this area with S. Korea and other nations.

National security: Centrus’ AC100M centrifuge is the only U.S.-origin enrichment technology that is deployment – eady to fulfill national security missions – for which a U.S. technology is required. In October, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced its intent to contract with Centrus for LEU enrichment for national security.

The last U.S. owned, large-scale uranium enrichment plant was built in the 1950s and shut down permanently in 2013, leaving America completely dependent upon foreign, state-owned enterprises that now control almost 100% of the world’s uranium enrichment capacity. With demand for nuclear power expected to grow in the coming years – and imports of Russian enriched uranium completely banned starting in 2028 – new domestic, U.S.-owned uranium enrichment capacity is urgently needed and in high demand.

Centrus has begun manufacturing centrifuges to support its uranium enrichment expansion at its centrifuge manufacturing factory in Oak Ridge, TN, relying upon a domestic manufacturing supply chain. Centrus began expanding its manufacturing capacity in Tennessee in late 2024, and has already begun hiring in Tennessee and Ohio to support the project. The first new production capacity is expected to come online in 2029.

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Urenco USA Produces First LEU+ Fuel

(WNN) Urenco has completed the initial production run for low-enriched uranium plus (LEU+) at its Eunice, NM, plant,  LEU+ is uranium enriched to between 5% and 10% U-235. Urenco USA aims to produce commercial quantities for customers by mid-2026.

Urenco USA’s New Capacity: In another milestone in December the company announced that this year’s third new cascade of centrifuges began production of LEU on 12/16/25. The new centrifuge cascades are part of a program to install 700,000 separative work units (SWU) of capacity by 2027 at Urenco USA’s Eunice, NM, uranium enrichment plant.

NRC License to Produce 10% HALEU: Last October Urenco received a permit from the NRC for its Eunice site in New Mexico tos become the first commercial uranium enrichment facility in the US to produce so-called low-enriched uranium plus (LEU+). The company said initial production of LEU+ will begin this year, with the first deliveries to a fuel manufacturer expected in 2026.

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Bulgaria And Poland Companies Set Joint Venture For BWRX-300 SMR

• Work will include site selection, licensing, construction, and ensuring commercial operation

(NucNet) Bulgaria’s Blue Bird Energy and Poland’s Synthos Green Energy (SGE) have signed a letter of intent to establish a joint venture aimed at building a fleet of up to six BWRX-300 small modular reactors (SMRs) in Bulgaria.

SGE, a co-investor in the standard design for the BWRX-300, said in a statement the project will bring Bulgaria zero-emission, affordable, baseload electricity to power industry, support AI and other data centers, and decarbonize district heating.

SGE said to decision to go with the BWRX-300, designed by US company GE Vernova Hitachi (GVH) is due to it being the most commercially advanced SMR on the market today, The first of the 300-MW plants is under construction at the Darlington nuclear power station site in Ontario, Canada. In the U.S. TVA is expected later this decade to break ground to build multiple BWRX300 SMRs at its Clinch River, TN, site.

The statement said the new joint venture will work in Bulgaria to choose and prepare deployment sites, secure site and design licensing, manage construction and project development, coordinate project funding and ensure safe commercial operation.

Blue Bird Energy is a Bulgarian energy company established to secure the deployment of an SMR fleet in Bulgaria. Main shareholders are two of the leading Bulgarian industrial corporations – construction and engineering group Glavbolgarstroy (GBS) and copper mining and processing company Asarel-Medet.

Asarel-Medet operates Bulgaria’s largest open-pit mine near Panagyurishte in the south of the country, and is a significant consumer of electricity and process heat. GBS, founded in 1969, is the largest and most established construction and engineering group in Bulgaria and a major player on the South-Eastern European construction market.

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Turkey Lands $9 billion in Finance from Rosatom for Akkuyu

Turkey’s energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar said in a press briefing that Russia has provided new financing worth $9 billion for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant being built by Moscow’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom. In terms of the new financing, Turkey’s energy ministry said that it will most likely be used in 2026-2027. It said the first unit of the four reactor site is expected to be operational in 2026.

Rosatom is building four 1,200 MW VVER PWR type nuclear reactors at Akkuyu near the port of Mersin located in Mersin province on the southeastern Mediterranean coast. The project was started in 2010, but construction has been delayed multiple times due to issues related to  financing, supply chain problems, and the temporary withdrawal of Turkish construction firms from the project. Overall costs have risen since 2010. The completion cost for all four units is now estimated at $25 billion.

The other three units are expected to follow in terms of completion at one-to-two year intervals assuming there are no further disruptions of supply chains, contractors, or other unforseen events. Rosatom claims units 2-4 will start at one year intervals beginning in 2027, but these dates are likely subject to revisions depending on construction progress.

The VVER uses 163 fuel assemblies in the core and has an 18 month refueling cycle. Rosatom will provide the fuel for the four reactors and retrograde spent fuel back to Russia for reprocessing once it is cooled off enough to be transported in dry casks. It is likely that 25% of uranium oxide fuel assemblies in the Akkuyu reactors may be swapped out for MOX fuel assemblies once testing taking place in Russia in 2025 is completed.

Multiple Delays Contribute to Higher Costs

Turbines Impacted by Sanctions – In 2024 Reuters reported that the opening of Turkey’s first nuclear plant was delayed after Germany’s Siemens Energy withheld key turbine parts, prompting Russia’s Rosatom, the builder and owner, to buy them in China. The decision by Siemens likely stems from Western sanctions impacting the Siemans operation in Germany over Russia’s war in Ukraine. A Siemens Energy spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that some parts were not delivered to Turkey due to German export regulations.

According to Turkish news reports, the issue is about the switchgear equipment for the power plant. For a deeper dive into the complex politics of the effects of western sanctions on turbine sales, and related equipment, for the Akkuyu plant, see this 2024 report by nuclear expert Mark Hibbs.

Construction Delays – According to a report by the World Nuclear Association (WNA), Atomstroyexport is general contractor for construction, though Turkish companies are expected to undertake 35-40% of the work.  The construction progress slowed significantly in July 2022 when Rosatom replaced the Turkish subcontractor, IC Içtaş, with Russian contractor TSM Enerji. Two months later, Turkey’s President Erdogan and Russia’s President Putin reached an agreement to resume construction, with IC Içtaş recapturing the deal to continue construction activities.

Finances and Investors – The Akkuyu project is nominally financed at 50% Rosatom and 50% based on a combination of Turkish and international institutional investors. So far Rosatom has been unable to secure outside financing for the four reactors.

Trust between Turkey and Rosatom was affected by events in 2015 Roastom when lost its momentum to build a new 1,200 MW VVER in Finland. The experience in Finland was not a confidence builder for Turkey’s energy ministry.

The reason was it was revealed that a so-called outside investor group was really Russian investors in disguise organized by Rosatom. Additional troubles between Rosatom and Finland’s nuclear safety ministry added to the delays. The ministry said documentation submitted by Rosatom was incomplete and did not meet regulatory requirements.

In 2022 Fennovoima announced its decision to terminate the EPC contract “due to RAOS Project’s significant delays and inability to deliver the project.” There have been significant and growing delays during the last years. The Finnish government also said that The war in Ukraine has worsened the risks for the project and that RAOS has been unable to mitigate any of the risks.

Rates and Profits – In terms of rate guarantees for the electricity produced by the four plants being built in Turkey, according to the WNA, TETAS, the Turkish utility, will buy a fixed proportion of the power at a fixed price of 12.35 ¢/kWh for 15 years. The proportion will be 70% of the output of the first two units and 30% of that from units 3&4 over 15 years going forward from the start of commercial operation of each. The remainder of the power will be sold by the project company on the open market. 

Electricity from the plants will cost rate payers an estimated $0.12.35/kWh which is higher than the cost of electricity from Turkey’s gas fired power plants, which paradoxically run on Russian gas. Once the plant is sold the new owner is obligated to pay 20% of the profits to the Turkish government.

Future Nuclear Plants in Turkey

Turkey has long had plans to build two other nuclear power stations. One would be at Sinop on Turkey’s northern Black Sea coastline. The other would be at Idgeada in Kırklareli province on the Black Sea coast north of Istanbul. A combination of financing issues and internal politics have pushed back decisions to proceed at both sites.

At one time the Sinop project was slated to be built by a French/Japan consortium, but it was cancelled when the Japanese investors pulled out due to rising costs. China has been talking to Turkey about the Idgeada with Turkey since 2016, but has not come to terms with the Turkish government.

The Sinop plant was to have included four 1,100 MW PWRs based on an unproven PWR design jointly developed by EDF and Mitsubishi. The Idgeada site was to have included multiple CAP1400s, which are based on Chinese design adaptations of the four Westinghouse 1,150 MW AP1000s built in China.

Bayraktar said Turkey is now in talks with South Korea, China, Russia and the United States on nuclear projects in the Sinop province and Idgeada, and added Ankara wanted to receive “the most competitive offer.” This is likely a code phrase for which offer will provide the most favorable financing of the project.

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Japan Plans To Restart Unit 6 At Nuclear Station Next Month

(NucNet) Japanese authorities have approved a decision to restart the world’s biggest nuclear power station, which has been offline for more than a decade following the Fukushima disaster in 2011. Owner and operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) will restart Unit 6 at the seven-unit Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant in late January.

The partial restart of the plant got the green light in a vote in December by the Niigata local government. Niigata governor Hanazumi Hideyo said last month he was ready to approve the restart of the facility, in western Japan.

NHK, a Japanese newswire, reported it had been told by “sources” that Unit 6, a 1,315-MW boiling water reactor unit that originally began commercial operation in 1996, would return to service. Fuel loading at Unit 6 was completed in June.

Kashiwazaki Kariwa is the world’s largest nuclear power station by capacity. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, its seven boiling water reactor units have a combined net capacity of 7,965 MW. The facility served as an important energy source to supply electricity to the Tokyo metropolitan area before the 2011 earthquake and nuclear accident at Fukushima-Daiichi.

Tepco wants to bring the station back online and said in 2020 it was concentrating its resources on restarting the newer Units 6 and 7. However, in September, Tepco said it was planning to remove fuel from Unit 7 due to delays in the reactor’s restart.

The Tokyo-based industry group Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) reported at the time that Unit 7 would remain in a cold shutdown state because construction of special safety and security facilities required after the Fukushima disaster will not be completed by the October 2025 deadline.

Status of Reactor Restarts in Japan

Japan has 33 commercially available units, 14 of which have resumed operation under stringent post-Fukushima rules. Restarts face high regulatory hurdles and need local government support.

The 14 that have restarted are: Onagawa-2 (Tohoku Electric Power), Shimane-2 (Chugoku Electric Power), Mihama-3, Takahama-1, -2, -3, -4, and Ohi-3, -4 (Kansai Electric Power), Ikata-3 (Shikoku Electric Power), Genkai-3, -4, and Sendai-1 -2 (Kyushu Electric Power).

Before the 2011 Fukushima disaster Japan’s fleet of 54 nuclear plants generated about 30% of the country’s electricity, but were all shut down for safety checks following the accident.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the figure for 2023, was 5.5%, but the government want to see this climb to 20%. Japan’s new prime minister Sanae Takaichi has said she will push for the accelerated revival of nuclear power with reactor restarts key to reducing costly fuel imports.

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China Begins Work on Two More Nuclear Power Plants

• Country now building 35 units, putting it significantly ahead of any other nation

(NucNet) China has announced that first concrete has been poured, marking the official start of construction for new commercial nuclear power plants at Guangxi Bailong and Lufeng, both in the south of the country.

The China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA) said first concrete was poured on 12/22/25 for Unit 1 of the Guangxi Bailong nuclear power station, also known as Bailong, in the autonomous region of Guangxi. CNEA also said the pouring of first concrete was also completed on 12/22/25 for Unit 2 at Lufeng in Guangdong province.

A total of six reactors are planned to operate at the Guangxi Bailong site. Units 1 and 2 are both CAP1000 pressurized waters reactor (PWR) units and units 3 to 6 are planned to be CAP1400 PWR plants. The CAP1000 is China’s indigenous version of the Westinghouse AP1000 PWR nuclear plant. The CAP1400 is an uprated version of the 1,150 MW AP1000s previously built in China.

The Guangxi Bailong nuclear station is about 24 km from the border with Vietnam and about 30 km from the Fangchenggang nuclear power station, where four units began commercial operation from 2016 to 2024.

China’s state media has said the first two units at Guangxi Bailong will cost about $5.6 billion and are expected to take 56 months to complete.

The Lufeng project is planned to have six units, four of which have been approved. Construction of Units 5 and 6, both HPR1000, or Hualong One PWR plants, began on 09/08/25 and 08/26/25. Construction of Units 1 and 2 was approved by the state on 08/19/24 with construction of Unit 1 beginning on 02/24/25. CNEA said. Both of these units will be CAP1000 reactors.

Neither Guangxi Bailong or Lufeng are listed in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s database of nuclear plants in China. The database says China has 58 plants in commercial operation and 28 under construction.

However, construction has begun of another seven units that are not listed by the IAEA, including Guangxi Bailong and Lufeng, bringing the number to 35.

This puts China significantly ahead of any other country in reactor construction. According to the IAEA, India is second with six plants under construction and Russia third with five.

The Guangxi Bailong nuclear power station is owned by State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) through its subsidiary Guangxi Nuclear Power Company. Lufeng is owned by China General Nuclear subsidiary CGN Lufeng Nuclear Power Co Ltd.

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TAE, UKAEA Create Joint Venture for Fusion Energy

(WNN) TAE and the UK Atomic Energy Agency (UKAEA) have created a new joint venture, ma,ed TAE Beam UK. It will be a collaborative entity that will harness the partners’ collective scientific leadership, commercialization experience and market innovation to develop an advanced particle accelerator technology, beginning with neutral beams for fusion.

The venture aims to design, develop, and ultimately manufacture and service neutral beams for a wide range of fusion approaches, as well as adapt the accelerator technology for state-of-the-art cancer therapeutics, and other applications like food safety and homeland security.

TAE’s approach to fusion combines advanced accelerator and plasma physics, and uses abundant, non-radioactive hydrogen-boron (p-B11) as a fuel source. The proprietary magnetic beam-driven field-reversed configuration (FRC) technology injects high-energy hydrogen atoms into the plasma to make the system more stable and better confined. This solution is compact and energy efficient.

For a fusion machine to produce electricity, it must keep plasma steadily confined at fusion-relevant conditions. On TAE’s current fusion machine, eight powerful neutral beams are placed at precise angles to meet those requirements.

Inside each neutral beam canister, protons are accelerated and then combined with electrons to create a stream of neutral, high-energy hydrogen atoms (the ‘neutral beam’). Because the particles have no charge, they can bypass the fusion reactor’s magnetic field to provide heating, current drive and plasma stability.

TAE is the first to use neutral beams for both FRC plasma formation and high-quality plasma sustainment – resulting in a streamlined design that is smaller, more efficient and more cost-effective.

The same accelerator technology that produced TAE’s sophisticated neutral beam system for fusion has also been adapted for TAE’s medical technology subsidiary, TAE Life Sciences, to provide a non-invasive, targeted treatment for complex and often inoperable cancers.

The new TAE Beam UK joint venture will operate out of UKAEA’s Culham Campus, in Oxfordshire, UK. UKAEA – which carries out fusion energy research on behalf of the UK government – plans to make an equity investment of $7.4 million in this new venture. TAE Beam UK is supported by TAE’s own nine-figure investment in the technology due to TAE’s own usage requirements over the next several years. The project aims to deliver the first short-pulse beams within 18-24 months of the start of work.

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