Monday, 20 July 2026

Chiltern Vital Group has signed a letter of intent with Cambridge Atomworks to consider building the prototype Odin microreactor at the Berkeley Green Science and Technology Park in Gloucestershire, England, according to World Nuclear News.

Cambridge Atomworks plans to have an operational prototype of the Odin microreactor by 2030, World Nuclear News reported.

World Nuclear News described the Odin unit as a low-pressure, molten-salt-cooled, solid-fuel fission reactor integrated with power conversion and heat rejection systems.

If approved, the Berkeley Green development would offer up to 600,000 square feet of new R&D, laboratory, office, manufacturing, and education facilities, and create up to 1,000 jobs, according to World Nuclear News.

Cambridge Atomworks CEO Ian Farnan said that once the physics demonstration campaign is complete, the objective is to use the Berkeley-based prototype as a training facility, noting there is currently no reactor training facility for this purpose in the UK.

Cambridge Atomworks was established in 2023, initially developing the Odin microreactor for US firm NANO Nuclear on an outsourced consulting basis before buying back the intellectual property, World Nuclear News reported.

According to Power Magazine, Pacific Fusion announced that a pulsed-power prototype designed and built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has exceeded 3,000 shots under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the company.

Pacific Fusion is headquartered in California, according to Power Magazine.

Pacific Fusion said on July 16 that the result marks a key milestone in the development of high-gain fusion, according to Power Magazine.

France's nuclear safety authority ASNR published an opinion on 13 July 2026 concluding that newcleo's safety provisions for its planned French MOX fuel facility are satisfactory at this stage. According to the company, the opinion covers all the safety features newcleo proposed for the facility.

newcleo submitted a safety approach dossier to the French nuclear safety authority for the planned MOX fuel fabrication facility in December 2024.

CEO and founder Stefano Buono said newcleo welcomes the ASNR's positive opinion and credited France 2030 with accelerating its technology development and attracting private investment. Buono said the opinion reflects years of work by the teams developing the MOX fuel facilities.

The General Secretariat for Investments (SGPI) concluded that newcleo has reached a stage of development that exceeds the scope of the France 2030 program, according to the company. The conclusion followed a detailed evaluation of newcleo's application for Phase 2 of the program.

newcleo is conducting a three-month public debate on its proposed French lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) and MOX fuel facility projects, becoming the first private developer of an innovative reactor technology to complete this stage in France, according to the company.

On May 27, 2026, newcleo announced a definitive agreement for a business combination with NewHold Investment Corp. III that values newcleo at a pre-money equity value of approximately USD 2.4 billion and is expected to provide up to USD 429 million in gross proceeds, according to the company. The transaction, upon closing, would result in newcleo becoming a U.S.-listed public company.

newcleo has raised approximately USD 780 million in private funding and has more than 900 employees across Europe and the United States.