New York Doubles Down for Big Iron and SMRs

• New York Doubles Down for Big Iron and SMRs
• Antares Achieve First Criticality at INL
• Duke Energy Asks Data Centers to Share Risks for New Reactors
• X-energy Submits Xe-100 HTGR for UK Generic Design Assessment
• Urenco USA Plans Significant Expanded Enrichment Capacity
• Japan to Replace 14 Older Nuclear Reactors By 2050s
• Helion Books $4540M in Series G Funding
• Can Helion Meet Its Self-imposed 2028 Deadline?

New York Doubles Down for Big Iron and SMRs

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is pursuing advanced large-scale reactors at 1,000 MW and small modular reactors in the range of 300 MW based Generation III+ or Generation IV designs and technologies.

It is expected that the locations of new reactors will be in upstate New York at shoreline sites on Lake Ontario.

Proposals must must demonstrate a credible path to both produce 1.0 GW of energy and start construction before 2033 to ensure Inflation Reduction Act Investment Tax Credit eligibility.

First-of-a-kind (FOAK) and micro modular reactors (MMRs) are outside the scope of this effort. SMRs that are proposed must be already deployed or under construction prior to 2033. First concrete must be proposed to be poured by 2030.

The selected “integrator” wears all the hats to complete the project including:
development, siting, licensing, EPC/procurement, construction, commissioning, and operational readiness. The integrator must also support offtake arrangements and project financing.

This is a two-step process and qualified firms will be invited to participate in a future Request for Proposal (RFP). RFQ closes June 26, 2026 at 4:00 PM EST. The text of the RFQ is here.

According to World Nuclear News, the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) follows on from Requests for Information issued by the authority last year, to which more than 30 entities – including 23 potential developers or partners and eight Upstate New York communities – responded.

A second solicitation is a Request for Applications (RFA) inviting eligible training providers based in New York State to apply for funding to develop and deliver technical training under the Nuclear Energy Workforce Training initiative. The deadline for submissions under the RFA is July 31. The NYPA is offering $40 million for this program.

Four nuclear reactors – all operated by Constellation Energy – currently provide some 21.4% of all New York’s electricity, and 41.6% of its carbon-free electricity, according to information from the Nuclear Energy Institute. The State of New York has already supported the continued operation of those facilities – two units at Nine Mile Point and the single-unit Ginna and Fitzpatrick plants – by explicitly recognising their zero-carbon attributes in its clean energy mandate. Two pressurised water reactors at the Indian Point plant were closed down prematurely in 2020 and 2021 respectively following on from a settlement agreement between the plants’ then-owner Entergy and the State of New York

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Antares Achieve First Criticality at INL

(WNN contributed to this report) Antares announced that its Mark-0 microreactor achieved initial criticality at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) under U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) authorization — making Antares the first private company to bring an advanced reactor to criticality under the DOE Reactor Pilot Program. The demonstration was conducted in partnership with DOE, INL, and BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT), with integration and observation support from the U.S. Army.

Criticality means that the reactor has achieved a sustained nuclear chain reaction, with each fission event – when an atom of uranium in the fuel is split – releasing a sufficient number of neutrons to sustain an ongoing series of reactions. In a nuclear power reactor, the heat energy from those fission reactions is used to produce steam and generate electricity. The American Nuclear Society noted in a congratulatory message to Antares, ” Criticality is a starting line, not a finish line.”

Antares is building fission microreactors to enable strategic energy for critical mission capabilities on earth, in space, and underwater. The sodium heat pipe design will produce 100-500 Kwe of power.

According to a press statement from Antares, “This reactor validates key reactor physics parameters for Antares’ reactors and contributes verification and validation data back to the Department of War’s Project Pele. The Mark-0 was authorized by DOE under the Reactor Pilot Program, with the U.S. Army integrated throughout as a future end user. This model of interagency coordination directly supports the Army’s microreactor deployment timeline.”

The demonstration and the licensing pathway it establishes represent a key step toward deploying electricity-producing microreactors for U.S. military installations by September 30, 2028. Antares’ timeline envisages electricity production in 2027, with the first customer deployments of electricity-producing microreactors the following year.

Fuel Notes

The fuel used by Antares is modelled on the TRISO fuel compacts delivered by BWXT for Project Pele, a 1.5 MW transportable microreactor BWXT is building for the US Army’s Strategic Capabilities Office. Building on a proven fuel specification and manufacturing expertise matured through Project Pele directly underpins the criticality milestone, Joe Miller, BWXT’s president for Government Operations, said.

The HALEU feedstock material used to manufacture the Antares TRISO fuel compacts comes from scrap materials provided by the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration. BWXT said it will continue to support Antares with ongoing TRISO fuel manufacturing, reinforcing the company’s readiness to meet customer timelines and the growing national demand for advanced reactor fuel.

The firm added that the Mark-0 benefited from using the same nuclear fuel as the Project Pele program, an initiative to design, build, and demonstrate a prototype of a transportable micro nuclear reactor for military use. The TRISO (TRi-structural ISOtropic) fuel was fabricated by Virginia-based BWXT.

Benefits of Participating in the DOE Program

According to Antares, the demonstration produced the testing data, model validation, and control system performance that will support progress for Antares’ commercial reactor toward full-power electricity production. The firm said its engineers gained direct insight into the physics of the Mark-0 core, the behavior of its control drums, and the maturity of the firm’s supply chain.

Jordan Bramble, CEO of Antares, said the DOE pilot program for microreactors, “Forced us to build an organization that can design, license, build, and test reactors on a schedule, and it forced DOE’s licensing pathway to run at the pace the country needs. For the American nuclear renaissance to succeed, we need efficient, iterative reactor testing, not a decade per design. Criticality is the first step. Electricity from this same facility, using the same TRISO fuel, is expected in roughly a year. Power for military installations follows in two.”

When commercialized after further tests and licensure by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, microreactors like those that Antares makes are anticipated to be used in a variety of terrestrial and space applications and to ensure readiness at military installations requiring reliable energy.

The Reactor Pilot Program leverages DOE authorization to expeditiously certify and construct first-of-a-kind advanced reactor designs for demonstration. Building on the Reactor Pilot Program’s success, DOE recently established the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad to further accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies.

About Antares’ Investors

Founded in 2023 by Jordan Bramble and Julia DeWahl, Antares Industries has raised $138 million capital (equity and debt) to develop its rapidly deployable microreactors for defense, space, and commercial applications.

The firm is primarily backed by a core trio of major venture capital firms—Caffeinated Capital, Alt Capital, and Shine Capital with participation from several other undisclosed investors. Here is the breakdown of the funding amounts and the major investors provided in each round since the company was formed:

• Seed Round (October 2023) ~ Amount Provided: $8 million; Major Investors: Early backing included Caffeinated Capital and Susa Ventures.
• Series A (October 2024) ~ Amount Provided: $30 million; Lead Investors: Co-led by Alt Capital and Caffeinated Capital. Other Participating Investors: Shine Capital, Khosla Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, BoxGroup, Rogue Venture Partners, Uncommon Capital, Shrug Capital, Banter Capital, Humba Ventures, Hustle Fund, Oyster Ventures, and ScOp Venture Capital.
• Series B (December 2025) ~ Amount Provided: $96 million (Comprised of $71 million in new equity capital and $25 million in debt financing for equipment, factory build-out, and uranium procurement).Lead Investors: The equity round was led by Shine Capital. The debt financing was led by angel investor Alex Hartz. Other Participating Investors: Alt Capital, Caffeinated Capital, FiftyThree Stations, and Industrious.

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Duke Energy Asks Data Centers to Share Risks for New Reactors

Duke CEO Harry Sideris said during a Reuters NEXT Newsmaker interview that the utility has talked to hyperscalers about the prospect of building new nuclear power if the technology companies take on some of the financial risk of building the reactors. (Watch the full video here)

He told the wire service it has massive demand from companies building energy-intensive data centers that are driving electricity consumption to record highs. However, he also said that if data centers want the giant utility to build more nuclear reactors, they have to step up and share the finacial risks. So far there has been some progress in this space, but not in the states where Duke serves customers. Amazon, Facebook, and Google have all made financial commitments to invest or cost share in the building of new advanced reactors.

What is interestring about the CEO’s remarks is that Duke a decade ago canceled or suspended the licenses for six planned Westinghouse 1,150 MW AP1000 PWR type nuclear reactors. Duke’s action as a prudent investor were driven by a combination of factors including the bankruptcy of Westinghouse due to the termination of the new build of two AP1000s at the V C Summer site in South Carolina and flat demand for electricity in Duke’s service area despites its purchase of Progress Energy in 2012 to expand its customer base. So where things stand if Duke is thinking of building new GW scale PWRs, it has only to dip its bucket into its own well as places to start.

In 2017 Duke canceled the planned construction of two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors at the Williams States Lee III project. The decision follows a similar move to cancel the twin AP1000s planned for the Levy County site in Florida. Four years ago Duke suspending licensing work on the 2nd & 3rd units at the Harris Nuclear reactor citing economic uncertainties. These units were also to have been Westinghouse AP1000s. In all Duke took over 6 GW of proposed new nuclear generating capacity off the table in one year.

Tentative Plans for SMRs

Duke has put is toe back in the water with a proposal to build an SMR to replace a coal fired power plant. Duke Energy announced plans last week for deployment of two small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to replace currently operating coal fired units. The first site will be the Belews Creek in North Carolina. The second site hasn’t been chosen yet. The two-unit Bewlews Creek plant also uses natural gas.

The choice of two SMRs are the first new nuclear reactor projects to get ink in the utility’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) is a major policy reversal of its decision making. It follows actions taken a decade ago of cancelling six full size nuclear reactor projects. None of the planned and now cancelled or suspended AP1000s projects ever broke ground. Each of them would have represented about 1100 MW of carbon emission free electric generation capacity. The plants were Levy County, FL, Shearon Harris, NC, and William States Lee, SC.

Duke’s decisions to cancel or suspend the six reactors were driven by a combination of falling natural gas prices, stagnant demand for electricity, and the complexity of different utility regulations and rate structures for the states in its service territory.

Natural gas prices fell from a high of $16.13 in May 2008, which is when the rush to build new reactors began, to a low of $2.09 in February 2016 which is when the so-called “nuclear renaissance” for all intents and purposes came to an end.

Timelines for New SMRs

The timeline for the new SMRs to enter revenue service, according to the IRP, is more than a decade away in 2034. Duke said it plans to choose an SMR technology for the Belews Creek site between 2023 and 2025 and to apply for an early site permit (ESP) from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in mid-2025. If granted by the NRC, the ESP would be good for 20 years.

The projected in-service date for the Belews Creek SMR would be the first quarter of 2034, with the SMR at the second site coming online in the first quarter of 2035. Duke Energy plans to end coal-fired power generation at Belews Creek by 2036.

Duke Energy already operates 11 nuclear units at six sites in North Carolina and South Carolina. The six sites are Brunswick, McGuire, Catawba, Oconee, Harris and Robinson. It said it is also in the process of seeking 20-year license extensions for all 11 existing nuclear units.

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X-energy Submits Xe-100 HTGR for UK Generic Design Assessment

X-Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:XE) announced it has submitted an application to enter the United Kingdom’s Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process for its Xe-100 High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR). Subject to acceptance, submission marks a significant milestone in X-energy and Centrica’s efforts to deploy up to 6 GW of new nuclear in the United Kingdom, initiating a critical step in the UK licensing process.

Generic Design Assessment is the UK’s established regulatory pathway for licensing new nuclear technologies, evaluating safety, security, safeguards, and environmental impact independent of site-specific considerations. The assessment will be administered by the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), and is expected to conclude by the end of 2029.

X-energy has been in active dialogue with UK regulatory authorities since 2024 through the Early Engagement process. The Company’s latest submission builds on its U.S. licensing progress and is expected to further benefit from expanded collaboration between ONR and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that allows for direct transfer of design documentation and safety analyses. This streamlined approach allows applicants to leverage NRC-approved technical documents throughout the assessment, creating opportunities for enhanced efficiency in the UK’s licensing process.

The Xe-100 is an 80 MWe HTGR deployed in four-or-twelve-unit plants, capable of providing both electricity, and high-temperature heat and steam for industrial applications. In September 2025, X-energy and Centrica signed a Joint Development Agreement for the UK’s first advanced nuclear fleet, targeting 6 GW nationwide with Hartlepool identified as the preferred first site for a 12-unit/960 MWe Xe-100 plant. The project is currently advancing through the UK Government’s Advanced Nuclear Pipeline assessment.

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Urenco USA Plans Significant Expanded Enrichment Capacity

Urenco USA announced that it will expand the capacity of the United States’ only commercial uranium enrichment facility by nearly 50%, marking a major commitment to strengthening the U.S. nuclear fuel supply chain as the country expands the use of nuclear power. This strategic, multi-billion-dollar investment will fund the construction of a new enrichment plant at Urenco USA’s National Enrichment Facility, located in Eunice, NM, enabling the increased production of low enriched uranium (LEU).

Urenco will install 2.1 million separative work units (SWU) of new enrichment capacity using the company’s proven gas-centrifuge enrichment technology. During the expansion, up to 24 cascades of centrifuges will be installed, with the initial cascades starting production in 2032 and additional cascades installed through 2036.

LEU serves as the foundational fuel for America’s existing operating fleet of commercial light water reactors, which generate nearly 20% of the nation’s electricity. LEU will also serve as essential feedstock to produce high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) in the future, which will be used in advanced reactor designs planned for deployment in the 2030s.

This major expansion project will support between 300-600 U.S. jobs during the peak construction period and 70 jobs in long-term operations at the site. Urenco USA currently employs more than 500 U.S. staff and long-term contractors at the facility, which has been in commercial operation since 2010.

Since 2006, the company has invested more than $5 billion of private capital in the facility to provide a secure domestic supply of enriched uranium and is the only company to have licensed, built, operated, and expanded a commercial uranium enrichment facility in the United States.

The facility has an existing annual capacity of 4.3 million SWU, which is approximately one-third of current U.S. demand, and has an ongoing expansion project to add 700,000 SWU of capacity that will be completed in 2027. Urenco USA also intends to refurbish existing capacity at the site starting in 2027 as part of ongoing capital investments in the facility to maintain a long-term, reliable supply of enrichment services for its customers. With these investments, installed capacity at the facility will grow to more than 7 million SWU over the next decade.

The U.S. capacity program is part of a larger effort by Urenco Global to now install 4.6 million of new SWU enrichment capacity at sites in the United States, the Netherlands, and Germany over the next decade. With four operating production facilities, Urenco provides a diversity of supply that no other Western enrichment company can offer to operators of commercial nuclear power plants in the United States and allied countries.

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Japan to Replace 14 Older Nuclear Reactors By 2050s

(NucNet) Japan plans to rebuild between two and five ageing nuclear reactors by the 2040s and as many as 11 to 14 by the 2050s as it aims to secure stable power supply, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing a draft policy presented on 5 June. Japan’s 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.

The proposal, outlined by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)) at a meeting on nuclear policy, reflects a shift towards greater reliance on nuclear energy to help meet rising power demand and reduce costly fuel imports.

It is the first official numerical target for reactor replacement released since the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant owned and operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company.

By setting a concrete goal, the ministry will make it easier to secure human resources in the nuclear power industry, a statement said.

Meti said it plans to rebuild an additional nine reactors by the 2050s, bringing the total number of reactors subject to replacement to 11-14.

The government’s latest energy plan, adopted in February 2025, calls for nuclear electricity generation to increase from 8.5% in fiscal 2023 to about 20% in fiscal 2040. Renewable energy’s share of electricity production is expected to increase from 22.9% to 40%-50%, with fossil fuels’ share falling from almost 69% to 30%-40%.

About Japan’s Nuclear Fleet

Japan has 15 reactor units in commercial operation, while its potential complete fleet has 33 units including 18 units where operations are suspended pending post-Fukushima restart approvals.

The 15 restarted reactors have a combined capacity of 14.6 GW. The restarted units are Onagawa-2, Kashiwazaki Kariwa-6, Mihama-3, Takahama Units 1-4, Ohi Units 3-4, Shimane-2, Ikata-3, Genkai Units 3-4, and Sendai Units 1-2.

Before the 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.

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Helion Books $4540M in Series G Funding

• Helion Energy announced this week it raised $465 million in Series G funding round to accelerate commercial deployment of fusion and scale its manufacturing capacity. To date, the company has raised $1.5 billion.

Helion, an Everett, WA, based fusion energy company, announced a $465 million Series G investment round to accelerate commercial deployment of fusion, scale manufacturing capacity. This latest round of funding brings the total invested to date in Helion to $1.5 billion.

The raise was led by Thrive Capital, with participation from additional new investors, including Alta Park Capital, Anti Fund, BoxGroup, Lux Capital, Peak XV Partners, and Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman Bill Ford, plus existing investors, including Capricorn Technology Impact Funds, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mithril Capital, Dustin Moskovitz through Good Ventures Foundation, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and a university endowment fund.

The Series G announcement comes on the heels of several industry-first milestones achieved by its 7th-generation Polaris prototype as well as ongoing momentum behind Orion, the company’s first fusion power plant. Polaris became the first privately funded fusion machine to operate with deuterium-tritium fuel and broke the company’s own record for plasma temperatures, exceeding 150 million ºC. Orion is currently under construction in Malaga, WA.

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Can Helion Meet Its Self-imposed 2028 Deadline?

Helion’s progress can be qualitatively benchmarked using the scale of Technology Readiness Levels.  This is a rating scale used by DOE, NASA, and DOD to place milestones for development of advanced technologies on a 9-level scale. In broad general terms, ratings of 1-3 are R&D, 3-6 product development, 6-9 progress from minimum viable product to commercial release.

Technology Readiness and 2020s Deployment Timeline for Helion

Current Maturity Level (TRL 4–6): Based on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale—which ranges from 1 (basic principles) to 9 (successful operational deployment)—Helion’s technology currently falls into the “Emerging” phase, spanning TRL-4 to TRL-6. (Indepth technical profile of Helion Energy fusion process)

• Assigning a single, static TRL is difficult because various subsystems are at different stages of maturity, but Helion has aggressively advanced through six previous sub-scale prototypes. Its 7th-generation machine, Polaris, aims to validate high-frequency pulsing (1 Hz) and net electricity generation. If Polaris achieves these targets, it will firmly demonstrate system functionality in a relevant environment (TRL 6) and prepare the technology for full-scale operational demonstration (TRL 7).

  Assessment of 2020s Deployment Claim: Helion has claimed it will build and operate a commercial fusion machine before the end of the 2020s (specifically targeting 2028). However, independent and academic analyses suggest this timeline is very ambitious and unlikely to be met. Helion originally planned to demonstrate sustained net electricity generation with its Polaris reactor by 2024, but as of early 2026, there are no publicly available results confirming this milestone has been achieved by the company.

• While record-breaking private capital differentiates Helion from slower, publicly funded experiments, broader industry consensus maintains that commercial grid integration of fusion technology is likely in the mid-2030s. The UK Atomic Energy Agency (UKAEA) projects 2040 is a plausible target date for one or more fusion firm to be ready with commercial fusion power plants. Consequently, the likelihood of Helion deploying a functional commercial plant by 2028 a far-from-certain outcome.

Formal Collaboration Agreements

Helion is aided in its fusion development work by a combination of commercial agrements, which spur investor interest, and technocal collaboration by university research efforts.

• Microsoft (May 2023): Helion signed a first-of-its-kind Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Microsoft. Under the agreement, Helion is contracted to deploy its first commercial fusion power plant and deliver at least 50 MW of electricity to Microsoft by 2028. If Helion fails to meet this commercialization deadline, it is contractually obligated to pay financial penalties to Microsoft.
• Constellation Energy (2023): As part of the milestone power purchase agreement with Microsoft, Helion officially partnered with Constellation Energy. Constellation serves as the designated power marketer for the deal, managing energy transmission and providing the operational expertise necessary to integrate the fusion-generated electricity into the local power grid.
• Nucor (September 2023): Steel manufacturing giant Nucor entered a formal collaboration and made a $35 million strategic investment in Helion. The explicit scope of this partnership involves co-developing a 500 MW fusion power plant to be located directly at one of Nucor’s US steel mills, intending to provide clean, baseload electricity for heavy industrial manufacturing.
• University of Washington (approx. 2013–Present): Helion Energy originally spun out of plasma physics research conducted at the University of Washington. The university has maintained a long-standing foundational relationship with Helion, serving as a primary academic and talent pipeline for the firm’s ongoing field-reversed configuration (FRC) and magneto-inertial fusion R&D.
• University of Michigan & University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (August 2022): Researchers from both universities formed a formal partnership with Helion scientists and legal personnel to evaluate the nonproliferation and global export landscape for commercial fusion. The scope of their collaboration focused on defining how Helion’s unique plants fit into the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and international radiation safeguards.

Citations for this Report about Helion

Hua, M. Y., Desai, S. S., Roma, A. C., Di Fulvio, A., Mundie, C. J., & Pozzi, S. A. (2022). Nonproliferation and fusion power plants. arXiv.

Meschini, S., Laviano, F., Ledda, F., Pettinari, D., Testoni, R., Torsello, D., & Panella, B. (2023). Review of commercial nuclear fusion projects. Frontiers in Energy Research, 11.

Various nuclear industry trade press reports and Helion press releases.