Tuesday, 30 June 2026

Aalo Atomics plans to achieve initial criticality for Aalo-X, its first commercial scale reactor, in July 2026. The company's facility at Idaho National Laboratory is completed, with the reactor and primary systems installed.

The remaining steps before criticality include the Department of Energy's issuance of the final Documented Safety Analysis, fuel receipt, and fuel loading, according to Yasir Arafat, Aalo's co-founder and Chief Technical Officer. Reactor fuel for Aalo-X is being manufactured by Global Nuclear Fuels in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Manufacturing footprint

Aalo Atomics built a 40,000 square foot pilot scale manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas in just one year. The pace of that build, combined with the completed Idaho site, places the company among the small modular reactor developers furthest along toward a first fission event.

Cost target

The company has a stated goal of achieving an electricity production cost of less than 3 cents per kilowatt hour. That target, if met, would put Aalo-X output in the range of the cheapest dispatchable generation on US grids and well below typical merchant nuclear costs disclosed in recent SMR project filings.

Context

Aalo-X is one of several advanced reactor designs working through the Department of Energy's demonstration pathway at Idaho National Laboratory rather than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's commercial licensing route. The Documented Safety Analysis is the gating safety document for DOE-authorized reactors, and its issuance is the final regulatory hurdle Arafat identified ahead of fuel loading.

The July 2026 criticality target is the next observable signal. A slip in DOE's Documented Safety Analysis issuance, or in the fuel delivery from Global Nuclear Fuels' Wilmington facility, would be the most likely cause of delay.

Indiana Governor Mike Braun signed a Letter of Intent with Eli Lilly to collaborate on a future pathway for nuclear energy solutions in Indiana, including small modular reactors (SMR) and other advanced nuclear technologies.

The agreement establishes a framework for the state and the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company to explore and evaluate the technical, economic, regulatory, and environmental feasibility of nuclear energy solutions in Indiana, according to Power Engineering.

"Indiana is leading on nuclear power, because more energy means lower energy prices for Hoosier families," Braun said.

The Letter of Intent pairs the state with one of its largest corporate electricity consumers. Eli Lilly's manufacturing footprint has expanded sharply as the company scales production of its weight-loss and diabetes drugs, lifting industrial power demand in Indiana.

The collaboration covers SMRs alongside other advanced reactor designs. SMRs are nuclear reactors designed for factory build and on-site assembly, and developers including NuScale Power, GE Hitachi, and Holtec have advanced US licensing work for the technology.

Indiana retired or converted a significant share of its coal fleet over the past decade and currently has no operating commercial nuclear plants. The Braun administration's move signals interest in nuclear as a dispatchable option to meet rising load from data centers, electrification, and industrial expansion, though the Letter of Intent commits the parties only to study feasibility rather than to build.

The agreement does not specify a site, technology vendor, capacity, or timeline for any reactor project.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Kazakhstan's National Nuclear Center (NNC RK) have signed a memorandum of cooperation to launch EAGLE-4, a fourth-phase joint research project on fast reactor core safety experiments, according to World Nuclear News.

The agreement was signed by NNC RK Director General Erlan Batyrbekov and JAEA President Masanori Koguchi, World Nuclear News reported. The two institutions framed the cooperation as support for the implementation of fast reactors.

Per World Nuclear News, the EAGLE-4 work programme includes several in-pile experiments, twelve out-of-pile experiments, and a series of small-scale tests. NNC RK said it is in discussions with JAEA on continuing the project through to 2031, according to the same report.

Earlier EAGLE phases delivered a substantial experimental base. World Nuclear News reported that about 200 preparatory tests were carried out, along with two intermediate-scale and nine full-scale reactor experiments, plus more than 65 out-of-pile tests at the EAGLE test-bench.

The extended cooperation runs alongside Japan's domestic fast reactor programme. A demonstration fast reactor is planned to operate by 2050, according to World Nuclear News.

Japan's Cabinet revised the strategic roadmap for fast reactor development on 23 December 2022, World Nuclear News reported. The revision selected a sodium-cooled fast reactor as the target of the demonstration reactor's conceptual design, with that design work set to begin in fiscal 2024.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted PJM's proposed Expedited Interconnection Track, a temporary standalone process designed to fast-track large capacity projects, according to PJM's Inside Lines.

The order takes effect July 31, and the Expedited Interconnection Track will sunset at the end of 2027, per the same source.

Under the rules accepted by FERC, proposals must offer a minimum of 250 MW of unforced capacity, and applications will be received on a rolling basis until the annual limit is reached. PJM expects projects entering the track to execute a Generation Interconnection Agreement within 10 months of submission and reach operation within three years.

PJM President and CEO David Mills said the FERC approval creates a pathway for shovel-ready generation projects of any kind to connect to the grid within the next three years, according to Inside Lines.

The new track follows other recent PJM efforts to add capacity. According to Inside Lines, PJM's one-time Reliability Resource Initiative attracted approximately 8,000 MW of generation across 41 projects, which are scheduled for final agreement at the beginning of 2027. PJM also completed the first transition cycle under its reformed interconnection process on its Tariff-based schedule, resulting in 14.1 GW of energy under signed agreements.

Bulgaria's Council of Ministers approved a derogation from EU sanctions allowing the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant to import components and parts from Russia, according to World Nuclear News. The exception, granted on Wednesday, carves out relevant parts of EU Council Regulation 833/2014 to permit a public procurement contract that will run for the duration of supply contracts.

Kozloduy supplies about 34% of Bulgaria's electricity, World Nuclear News reported. The plant sits in the northwest of the country on the Danube River and operates two Russian-designed VVER-1000 units that have completed refurbishment and life extension programmes, taking operating life from 30 to 60 years. Unit 5 was connected to the grid in 1987 and unit 6 in 1991, according to the same report.

The derogation follows operational disruption over the past winter. Unit 6 was taken offline twice in that period after issues said to be related to sourcing replacement parts from a Russian supplier, World Nuclear News reported.

Bulgaria is also pursuing new Westinghouse AP1000 capacity at the site. The aim is for unit 7 to be operational in 2035 and unit 8 in 2037. The 2300 MWe combined capacity of the two new units would exceed the 1760 MWe capacity of the closed first four units at Kozloduy, according to World Nuclear News.

Elon Musk said SpaceX and Tesla teams were separately working to stand up 100 GW a year of US solar manufacturing capacity, a job he put at roughly three years, according to pv magazine. The target alone would eclipse every existing solar module line in the country.

Intertek CEA estimated US module manufacturing capacity at slightly above 45 GW at the close of 2025, rising toward 60 GW this year. A single 100 GW Musk complex would therefore outweigh the whole domestic industry then in place.

China's plants ran on another scale entirely. The IEA put Chinese annual module manufacturing capacity at 1,156 GW at the end of 2024, with actual output of 627 GW that year, pv magazine reported.

The US demand case ran high. A 2025 American Clean Power Association study projected the country would need more than 900 GW of new renewable generation capacity by 2040 to cover rising load from data centers and the electrification of heating and transport, with solar carrying 647 GW of that over a 15-year stretch.

The equipment alone carries a heavy bill. Open EI's 2025 Benchmarks pegged tooling for 100 GW of tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) cell production at USD 3.5 billion from the cheapest Chinese suppliers, with another USD 1.3 billion required for module production gear at the same scale, pv magazine reported.

Those costs cover machinery only. They leave out buildings, land, labour, polysilicon and wafer feedstock, and the tariff burden on Chinese-sourced equipment shipped into the United States. Neither SpaceX nor Tesla had named sites, financing, or cell technology for the proposed platform.

VinFast has built its one millionth electric motorcycle, a red Feliz II scooter that rolled off the line at its Hai Phong complex, according to local media cited by Electrek.

The company reached that figure in under eight years. It put its first electric scooter, the Klara, on the market in late 2018. Its catalogue has since grown to nearly 15 model families and more than 30 variants, from low-cost city commuters to larger premium scooters.

VinFast says it sold more than 406,000 electric motorcycles in 2025, backed by nearly 750 authorized dealerships and service centers across Vietnam. Domestic buyers account for most of those deliveries.

The maker is now selling its two-wheelers in Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Thailand, and Malaysia.

That home dealership network gives VinFast a distribution base most foreign entrants lack as it moves into the five new markets. Entering Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Thailand, and Malaysia puts it against established regional motorcycle brands.

The Hai Phong plant that produced the millionth Feliz II also turns out VinFast electric cars. Running scooter and car lines on the same site lets the firm offer a wider range of electric vehicles.

Red Eléctrica has completed the repowering of the 220 kV transmission line connecting the Mesón do Vento and Santiago de Compostela substations, a project the Redeia subsidiary says reinforces electricity supply and the integration of renewables.

According to Red Eléctrica, transmission capacity on the line rises to 447 MVA from the previous 342 MVA. The transmission system operator handles system operation and electricity transmission in Spain.

The upgrade involved replacing the conductor cable along a 48-kilometre route through the municipalities of Órdenes, Trazo, Santiago de Compostela and Ames, and heightening 13 of the existing towers, Red Eléctrica said.

The operator put the investment at more than EUR 800,000. The project sits within the current Electricity Transmission Grid Plan approved by the Council of Ministers.

Red Eléctrica has started publishing installed capacity data for hybrid generation facilities on its public information platforms, the Spanish transmission system operator said. The TSO plans to add data on electricity generated by these facilities in the coming months.

Installed hybrid capacity in Spain exceeds 1.6 GW, with nearly 86% coming from hybridisation of multiple renewable technologies, according to Red Eléctrica.

The operator has updated Operating Procedure 3.1 with a classification of five possible types of hybrid installation combinations. The new data series begin in June 2024.

The release of hybrid indicators follows the inclusion of data on storage and self-consumption on Red Eléctrica's platforms in 2025.

PJM filed a proposal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on May 27 to raise minimum capitalization thresholds for participation in its wholesale electricity markets, according to a PJM Inside Lines post.

The revisions are the first since 2011 and would begin taking effect on April 30, 2027, PJM said. A five-year ramping schedule is designed so that all PJM non-FTR market participants demonstrate USD 2 million in tangible net worth by 2032.

PJM also proposes a 3% annual increase to the thresholds to account for inflation, beginning five years after implementation.

"These changes strengthen PJM credit policy and ensure the thresholds remain current over time while providing flexibility for market participants," said Lisa Drauschak, PJM Sr. Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, in the Inside Lines post.

According to PJM, the proposed changes received near-unanimous support from the January Members Committee.

The active demand response service known as SRAD will be allocated 1,775 MW for the second half of 2026, slightly above the 1,725 MW allocated for the first six months of the year.

The allocated volume covers 76% of the 2,339 MW required in the auction specifications for this call. Successful bidders will be remunerated at a marginal price of EUR 42.62 per allocated MW per hour for their availability to reduce consumption capacity during the assigned hours.

2026 is the first year the SRAD features two provision periods: one running January to June, for which the allocation auction was held in November 2025, and a second covering July to December.

So far in 2026, the SRAD has been deployed once, on 28 January, a day when all service providers participated in two consecutive, staggered activations.

Following a proposal by the CNMC, a modification to Operating Procedure 7.5 was published in the Official State Gazette on 15 May to optimise the allocated capacity volume and the marginal price.

Total wholesale electricity costs in ISO New England reached USD 15 billion in 2025, a 48% jump from USD 10.2 billion the prior year, according to the grid operator's 2025 market monitor report. That works out to USD 127 per MWh of load served.

Day-ahead energy prices led the climb. The average Day-Ahead Energy Market price settled at USD 71.81/MWh, a 73% year-over-year increase, per the report. Real-time prices tracked the same direction, with the average Real-Time Energy Market price rising 67% from 2024 to USD 65.89/MWh.

The ISO-NE Internal Market Monitor said the markets remained competitive but pointed to more expensive natural gas, tighter supply conditions, and changes to the resource mix and market design as the drivers behind higher prices.

Imports also tightened. Net imports into New England declined further in 2025, reaching their lowest level in more than a decade, which the monitor attributed to reduced hydropower output and a prolonged nuclear plant outage in Canada.

Carbon pricing programs added an estimated USD 9/MWh to average load-weighted energy prices in 2025, up from USD 8/MWh in 2024, contributing about USD 1.1 billion to total energy costs, according to the report.

GE Vernova signed an agreement with Powerica Limited to supply 28 of its 3.8 MW-154m onshore wind turbines for the Botad Wind Farm in Gujarat, India, according to a GE Vernova press release.

The 100 MW project marks the debut of the company's 3.8 MW workhorse turbine in the Indian market, GE Vernova said. Deliveries are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Alongside the Powerica order, GE Vernova announced certification by India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and inclusion on the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers of Wind Turbines (ALMM). ALMM listing is a prerequisite for participation in government-supported wind procurement in India.

GE Vernova also flagged a manufacturing build-out at its Pune facility, which at full capacity is expected to support up to 1,500 MW of annual production, according to the company.

The company said its Wind business has a global installed base of approximately 59,000 turbines representing nearly 120 GW of installed capacity worldwide.

The US Department of Energy said it will provide up to USD 500 million in Defense Production Act Title III funding to back 13 American coal-fired power plants and new coal export infrastructure, according to a DOE announcement.

The department said the package allocates up to USD 425 million to twelve projects selected to expand the country's coal fleet, and up to USD 75 million to the West Gateway Terminal Project, a rail-served marine export terminal capable of handling more than 10 million tons of bulk commodities annually.

According to the DOE, the West Gateway project in Oakland, California, will expand West Coast export capacity and support energy exports to allied nations including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the United States will continue to support its coal fleet and domestic supply chains to ensure national security.

The Government of Canada announced CAD 15 million in federal funding for the Turning Sun Solar Project, a 100-MW utility-scale facility in Estevan, Saskatchewan, according to a Natural Resources Canada statement.

The announcement was delivered by Member of Parliament Terry Duguid on behalf of Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson, who marked the start of construction at the site.

Natural Resources Canada described Turning Sun as one of the largest solar photovoltaic projects in Saskatchewan and one of the largest renewable energy projects currently under construction in Canada. The site sits on the traditional territory of the Ocean Man Nakoda Nation.

The project carries 10 percent Indigenous ownership and, once operational, will power the equivalent of 25,000 homes, according to the federal statement.

Rosatom's TVEL fuel division has manufactured the initial fuel load for unit 4 of India's Kudankulam nuclear plant at the Elektrostal Machine-Building Plant, according to World Nuclear News.

The supply falls under a contract agreed in 2024 covering the lifetime fuel needs of the VVER-1000 reactors at units 3 and 4, World Nuclear News reported.

The two operating units at the site, Kudankulam 1 and 2, have been in commercial operation since 2014 and 2017, World Nuclear News reported. Both are Russian-supplied VVER-1000 pressurised water reactors owned and operated by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd.

According to World Nuclear News, the adoption of TVS-2M fuel has extended the interval between refuelling shutdowns from 12 months to 18 months.

Wholesale power prices in New England averaged $45.71 per megawatt-hour in the Real-Time Energy Market in April 2026, up 16% year over year, even as the region's natural gas price fell sharply.

Day-Ahead Energy Market prices averaged $46.30/MWh during the month, up 12% from April 2025. The average natural gas price was $2.32 per million British thermal units, down 26% from the April 2025 average.

Total electricity use reached 8,287 GWh in April 2026, an increase of 0.4% over the same month a year earlier. Peak demand was 15,021 MW, down 2.0% from April 2025.

Regional power plants produced an estimated 1.91 million metric tons of CO2 during the month, approximately a 3% increase from the previous April. Natural-gas-fired plants accounted for 83% of the power system's total emissions, with emissions from those resources up 4% year over year.

Year-to-date estimated emissions through April 30 increased 11% year over year. The increase was largely driven by an early-year cold snap that raised gas prices and led many generators to burn oil as a more economical alternative. High demand coupled with limited pipeline availability into the region drove the higher gas prices behind the fuel switch.

Canada will develop its first national roadmap for deep geothermal energy resources, which draw on the Earth's natural heat to provide reliable, clean energy, according to Natural Resources Canada.

The Canadian Deep Geothermal Coalition will lead development of the roadmap, with Cascade Institute serving as the Secretariat to support coordination and delivery.

The Canadian Deep Geothermal Coalition was launched in 2025 as an alliance of organizations committed to accelerating deep geothermal development in Canada, according to Natural Resources Canada.

The funding, provided through the Energy Innovation Program, has been conditionally approved pending final due diligence.