Thursday, 27 August 2026

Radiant has put its 1 MWe Kaleidos microreactor on a truck bound for the DOME test bed at Idaho National Laboratory, leaving California by road, World Nuclear News reported. The unit is designed to be transportable.

The road leg runs to more than 1,000 miles, with the reactor carried on a trailer bed.

Five phases of reactor development testing are planned at the DOME facility. Radiant will begin at zero-power criticality and work up to full heat and power output, then hold a run of 150 continuous hours with no operator assistance.

Completion of the testing campaign is targeted for the third quarter of this year, according to World Nuclear News.

An agreement signed with the US Air Force commits Radiant to deliver its first commercial microreactor to a military installation, Buckley Space Force Base, by 2028.

Separately, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing Radiant's Part 70 licence application covering an R-50 microreactor production facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The company is aiming for approval by the final quarter of the year.

The Janus Program will place more than 20 commercial nuclear microreactors on five U.S. Army installations, with five advanced nuclear companies holding the build, ownership, and operating roles, according to Power Magazine.

Ownership stays with the selected firms, not the Army, Power Magazine reported.

The first project is intended to reach useful service by September 2028 under what Power Magazine described as a milestone-based effort.

Some European nuclear reactors are cutting output during heat waves at the same time that demand for cooling climbs, according to Canary Media. In its reporting, the outlet describes reactors "tapping out right as thermometers spike".

The demand side of that squeeze is changing fast. Canary Media reports that air conditioning, which the continent long treated as an American indulgence, is becoming a necessity in Europe as summers grow hotter.

That pairing sets up a mismatch between when cooling load peaks and when part of the reactor fleet can supply it. The units needed to run those cooling systems are the ones curtailing, according to Canary Media.