Wednesday, 15 July 2026

Scotland has areas with high potential for new nuclear development from a technical perspective, according to a siting study by Great British Energy - Nuclear (GBE-N), the UK government's nuclear delivery body.

The Energy Secretary commissioned GBE-N in late 2025 to conduct the technical study into potential suitable areas in Scotland for new nuclear developments, including small modular reactors (SMRs) or large-scale plants, according to World Nuclear News.

The study identified Torness in East Lothian, Dounreay in Caithness, and Hunterston in North Ayrshire as areas currently associated with nuclear power.

The findings run against Scottish government policy. The Scottish government has a long-standing policy that it will not grant planning consent to new nuclear projects in Scotland.

Energy Minister Michael Shanks said the report shows there is potential for new nuclear in Scotland that could boost energy security and deliver new jobs.

In November, GBE-N was commissioned to undertake a wider study to consider land areas potentially suitable for large-scale reactor deployment in England, Wales and Scotland, due to conclude later this year, according to World Nuclear News.

Building new nuclear reactors in Switzerland does not pay off under present market conditions, but state subsidies, risk mitigation and much lower construction costs would flip the economics, a study from ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute concluded.

To get there, politicians would have to pull the financing costs of new plants down from an estimated market rate of 8% to 5%, matching the interest rate that applies to other large-scale carbon-neutral plants, World Nuclear News reported.

The study modelled the effect on winter supply. New nuclear plants would trim net electricity imports during winter by 1 to 6 TWh, or 3 to 20% of the electricity now generated between October and March.

Switzerland runs four reactors, two at Beznau and one each at Gösgen and Leibstadt, together producing about one-third of national electricity, World Nuclear News reported.

Those plants sit under a policy that pushes the other way. The Energy Strategy 2050 initiative, drawn up by the Federal Council, took effect on 1 January 2018 and calls for a gradual exit from nuclear energy.

State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) said the final large module has been installed at unit 4 of the Haiyang nuclear power plant in China's Shandong province. The component, the CB-20 containment water tank module, was hoisted onto the top of the nuclear island's shielding building on 29 June, according to World Nuclear News.

The module will store more than 3,000 tonnes of water for emergency reactor cooling. Combined with other passive safety features, it can maintain unit safety for 72 hours without human intervention.

World Nuclear News reported the module has an outer diameter of nearly 26 metres, an inner diameter of 10.6 metres, a height of just over 10 metres, and a total weight of some 419 tonnes.

China's State Council approved construction of two CAP1000 reactors at each of the Haiyang, Sanmen and Lufeng nuclear power plant sites on 20 April 2022. The planned construction period for Haiyang 3 and 4 was 56 months, with both units scheduled to be fully operational in 2027.

Once all four units are in operation, the Haiyang plant is expected to generate 40 billion kWh of electricity annually and cut carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 30 million tonnes each year, according to SPIC.

Deployable Energy's Unity demonstration reactor reached initial criticality at the National Reactor Innovation Center at Idaho National Laboratory, the third US microreactor to do so under a presidential goal of three under Department of Energy (DOE) authorisation by July 4, 2026, World Nuclear News reported.

The first to reach the milestone was Antares Nuclear's Mark-0 reactor in early June, with Valar Atomics' Ward 250 reactor following shortly after, according to World Nuclear News.

Those two reactors ran under the DOE Reactor Pilot Program. Unity operated instead under the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, an initiative started in March at the Idaho National Laboratory-based National Reactor Innovation Center to extend the Reactor Pilot Program, World Nuclear News reported.

Unity's criticality used a full-scale core load but ran at zero power, according to World Nuclear News. A phased testing programme follows, covering reactor physics, load following, inherent safety, and full-power operations.

Unity reached criticality in roughly 150 days, and the facility supplied the expertise behind the result, said Idaho National Laboratory Director John Wagner, according to World Nuclear News.

Aalo Atomics' Aalo-X became the fourth firm to complete a zero-power fueled criticality demonstration under the U.S. Department of Energy Reactor Pilot Program on July 4, 2026, according to Neutron Bytes.

Antares Nuclear, Valar Atomics, and Deployable Energy completed their own zero-power fueled criticality demonstrations earlier in June, Neutron Bytes reported. All four experiments took place at Idaho National Laboratory.

DOE Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the department had issued a challenge to 11 firms selected for the reactor pilot program, expecting at least three to meet it, according to Neutron Bytes. Four succeeded, Wright said.

Aalo Atomics President and Chief Technology Officer Yasir Arafat said the company went from breaking ground to a sustained chain reaction in eight months, according to Neutron Bytes.

Deployable Energy was added to the Reactor Pilot Program in April, Neutron Bytes reported. The initial group of 11 firms included Aalo Atomics, Antares Nuclear, Atomic Alchemy, Deep Fission, Last Energy, Oklo, Natura Resources, Radiant Industries, Terrestrial Energy, and Valar Atomics.

Aalo Atomics reported that its Critical Test Reactor achieved criticality, making it the fourth United States advanced reactor design to reach the milestone under a federally supported campaign, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).

The experiment took place at Idaho National Laboratory, according to Rigzone. The DOE said the result exceeded the July 4 goal outlined by President Trump in his May 2025 executive order. Aalo Atomics described the demonstration as showing criticality for a commercial-scale advanced nuclear reactor.

Aalo Atomics said the Critical Test Reactor went from groundbreaking to a sustained chain reaction in less than eight months, which it called one of the fastest reactor builds in 80 years. The company added that it went from founding to fission in less than three years.

The Critical Test Reactor includes a full-scale core and demonstrates the nuclear components of Aalo's 10 MWe reactors, according to Rigzone. Those reactors will be deployed in 50 MWe Aalo Pods to power AI data centers. A second reactor for Project Ascension will produce 10 MWe of electricity and power an on-site data center in 2027.

Aalo's technology was among 11 initial selections announced by the DOE under Trump's Reactor Pilot Program on August 12, 2025, according to Rigzone.

Trump's May 23, 2025 executive order set a target for at least three advanced reactors to achieve criticality by July 4, 2026, according to Rigzone. The order aims to grow US nuclear energy capacity from about 100 GW to 400 GW by 2050.

Argentina announced the construction of a new nuclear reactor as part of a worldwide revival of atomic energy, according to Semafor Net Zero. The Buenos Aires project is backed by $1.2 billion in US money, Semafor reported.

The start of the Argentine build coincides with Britain extending the life of Sizewell B, which will now run until 2055 rather than 2035, according to Semafor.

BloombergNEF projected that aggressive reactor building in China and India is expected to boost global nuclear capacity 44% by 2036, Semafor reported.

China had 59 gigawatts of reactors under construction last year, enough to power around 50 million homes, according to Semafor. The country is on track to surpass the US as the world's biggest nuclear nation by 2030.