UK Funds Lunar Nuclear Micro-Reactor

UK Space Agency announced £2.9 million of new funding for a nuclear micro-reactor by Rolls-Royce. They want nuclear power to support a future Moon base for astronauts. This follows a £249,000 study funded by the UK Space Agency in 2022. Rolls-Royce plan to have a reactor ready to send to the Moon by 2029. Scientists …

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Last Energy Gets $19 Billion in Contracts for Simple 20 MW Nuclear Fission Reactors

Last Energy is a startup working to make low-cost small pressure water reactors (20 MW) with simple off the shelf parts. They are designing to keep things simple, use as much off the shelf parts as possible and to use workers with existing training and skills. The demonstration model project showcases Last Energy’s standard, modular …

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Helion Energy Developing Two New Fusion Reactor Prototypes

Helion Energy has received over $570 million in funding and commitments for another $1.7 billion to develop commercial nuclear fusion. Helion has performed thousands of tests with their sixth prototype called Trenta. In 2021, Trenta reached 100 million degrees C, the temperature they could run a commercial reactor. Magnetic compression fields exceeded 10 T, ion …

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Firebombing, Firestorms and Nuclear Weapons

A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Firestorms resulting from the bombardment of urban areas in the Second World War were generally confined to the areas initially seeded …

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Tokomak Energy Completing a Second Prototype in 2026

Tokamak Energy’s roadmap is for commercial fusion power plants deployed in the mid-2030s. They plan to complete the ST80-HTS prototype reactor in 2026 “to demonstrate the full potential of high temperature superconducting magnets”. They will then design and build a fusion pilot plant, ST-E1, which is slated to demonstrate the capability to deliver electricity – …

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New Metallic Nuclear Fuel Can Burn 21% of Uranium or Plutonium

Lightbridge plutonium disposition fuel variant consumes 5.5 times more plutonium per fuel rod than mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel. Lightbridge’s proprietary next-generation nuclear fuel technology features metallic fuel rods with a helical multi-lobe design that can be used to fuel small modular reactors as well as existing light water reactors and pressurised heavy water reactors. The high …

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Avalanche Energy Making Technical Progress to a Lunchbox Size Nuclear Fusion Device

Avalanche Energy published a research paper in an IEEE journal. Avalanche is a VC-backed, fusion energy start-up based in Seattle, WA. with about $51 million in funding. They are designing, testing and building fusion batteries small enough to hold in your hand. Their modular reactor design can be stacked like battery packs for a wide …

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Helicity Space Progress to Lab Fusion Prototype

Helicity Space is making good progress fabricating key parts for their lab prototype of their nuclear fusion drive. This was described last month. Helicity Space has raised their seed round of over $3.5 million per Pitchbook but could have raised over $6 million. The first prototypes would be better than current electric drives. The ISP …

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