Thursday, 23 July 2026

X-energy signed on as a Tier 1 founding partner in Project Prometheus, a research effort led by Idaho National Laboratory, NVIDIA and AWS that applies artificial intelligence to speed advanced nuclear deployment, according to a GlobeNewswire announcement.

The three-year program received USD 60 million under the U.S. Department of Energy's Genesis Mission, with goals to shorten schedules and cut operating costs for advanced nuclear technologies, per the release.

X-energy's Tier 1 stake carries USD 10 million in private capital and a board seat, plus access to its Xe-100 small modular reactor design and TRISO-X fuel fabrication data.

Project Prometheus brings together 32 U.S. laboratories, universities and private technology developers to apply AI to nuclear research, the announcement said.

Across the United States and United Kingdom, X-energy has more than 11 GW of new nuclear capacity in development, with commercial Xe-100 projects running with Dow, Amazon, and Centrica.

X-energy and Amazon hold an option to deploy more than 5 GW of new nuclear by 2039 for grid reliability and AWS data center demand, per the release.

President Trump has approved letting Saudi Arabia build a civil nuclear program, with scope for the kingdom to run its own enrichment facilities, according to Semafor Net Zero.

The arrangement runs 30 years and was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, according to Semafor Net Zero, which put its potential value to US companies in the tens of billions of dollars. Under the deal, Chinese and Russian firms are locked out of Saudi nuclear power plans.

The Biden administration had linked any deal to Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel, and pushed for limits on uranium enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing, according to Semafor Net Zero. The current terms drop those conditions, which Semafor Net Zero described as a win for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Saudi Arabia has said previously that it would seek a nuclear weapon if Iran obtains one, according to Semafor Net Zero.

Unit 3 at the Changjiang nuclear power plant in China's Hainan province reached first criticality at 18:00 local time on 10 July, according to China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). The 1,100 MWe pressurised water reactor (PWR) is being built by CNNC Engineering.

The unit is one of two Hualong One (HPR1000) reactors under construction in the second phase of the Changjiang plant, according to World Nuclear News. CNNC reported that the reactor achieved criticality at the stated time.

China Huaneng, which holds a 51% share in the project, put the total estimated investment for Phase II units 3 and 4 at CNY40 billion (USD5.9 billion).

First concrete was poured for the base slab of unit 3's nuclear island in March 2021, with that of unit 4 poured in December of that year, according to World Nuclear News. The construction period is expected to be 60 months, and both units are scheduled to be fully operational in early 2027.

The Changjiang site already hosts two operating CNP-600 PWRs, Changjiang 1 and 2, which entered commercial operation in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

CNNC began construction in 2021 of a demonstration ACP100 small modular reactor at the site, a 125 MWe PWR also referred to as Linglong One. That unit is currently undergoing pre-commissioning tests, according to World Nuclear News.

The United States and Saudi Arabia signed a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement, according to US DOE Energy.gov, which described it as a decades-long, multi-billion-dollar partnership.

The agreement was signed by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, according to US DOE Energy.gov.

The agreement was announced on July 22, 2026, according to US DOE Energy.gov.

Egypt installed the reactor pressure vessel in the second unit at the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant, according to World Nuclear News. The step follows by seven months the installation of the same component in the first unit.

Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev said the daily workforce at the site tops 25,000, with more than 18,000 of them Egyptian nationals, according to World Nuclear News.

Likhachev set out the delivery schedule: the site is to be ready to receive the first nuclear fuel in the first half of 2027, with grid connection of the power units in 2028.

The vessel weighs 330 tonnes and runs about 13 metres long and 4.5 metres in diameter, according to World Nuclear News. It carries an initial service life of 60 years, extendable to 80.

El Dabaa will be Egypt's first nuclear power plant and the first built in Africa since South Africa's Koeberg came online nearly 40 years ago.

Egypt targets a 9% nuclear share of its electricity by 2030, reached through commercial operation of the first two units by that time, according to World Nuclear News.

A federal appeals court upheld the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) use of a generic environmental analysis for nuclear plant license renewals, according to Power Magazine.

The U.S. Court of Appeals issued the decision on July 21, per Power Magazine.

The court rejected claims that the NRC failed to adequately consider how aging components and climate change could affect the risk of severe reactor accidents, according to Power Magazine.