# Nuclear News Network

> Independent reporting on the global nuclear energy buildout — new builds, SMRs, fuel, policy, operations and fusion.

This file helps AI search engines and assistants understand and cite Nuclear News Network. A clean Markdown version of any article is available by appending `.md` to its URL.

## Articles

- [BWRX-300 vs AP300 vs Natrium: which SMR is actually winning?](https://nuclearnewsnetwork.com/news/bwrx-300-vs-ap300-vs-natrium): As of mid-2026: BWRX-300 is in construction with an operating licence filed (Darlington); Natrium holds a March 2026 construction permit and broke ground in Wyoming; AP300 remains in pre-licensing. Deployment maturity order: BWRX-300, Natrium, AP300.
- [Natrium, explained: TerraPower's reactor with a built-in battery](https://nuclearnewsnetwork.com/news/natrium-reactor-explained): Natrium is TerraPower's 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor with molten-salt storage that flexes output to 500 MWe for 5.5+ hours. It won the NRC's first modern commercial fast-reactor construction permit in March 2026 and broke ground at Kemmerer, Wyoming in April.
- [The BWRX-300, explained](https://nuclearnewsnetwork.com/news/bwrx-300-explained): The BWRX-300 is GE Vernova Hitachi's 300 MWe boiling-water SMR, a simplified descendant of the licensed ESBWR — and the most deployment-advanced SMR in the West: four units approved at Darlington with unit 1 in construction, and Poland proposing fourteen more.
- [Small modular reactors: the complete guide](https://nuclearnewsnetwork.com/news/smrs-explained): Small modular reactors are nuclear plants of up to ~300 MWe per module, built for factory fabrication and serial deployment. In 2026 the field turned real: the first Western SMR is in construction at Darlington, Natrium broke ground in Wyoming, and 127 designs compete worldwide.
- [Poland's Orlen Synthos seeks CfD backing for 14 BWRX-300 SMRs](https://nuclearnewsnetwork.com/news/polands-orlen-synthos-seeks-cfd-backing-for-14-bwrx-300-smrs): Orlen Synthos Green Energy has asked Poland's energy ministry for CfD support for a 14-unit BWRX-300 programme at three sites — a financing framework that would turn Europe's most ambitious SMR plan into a fundable project.
- [DOE to offer $17.5bn in nuclear supply chain loans](https://nuclearnewsnetwork.com/news/doe-to-offer-17-5bn-in-nuclear-supply-chain-loans): The DOE's Office of Energy Dominance Financing has issued a loan opportunity worth up to $17.5bn for nuclear supply-chain support, aimed at the vendors, fabricators and component suppliers behind a ten-reactor buildout.
- [OPG seeks licence to operate first G7 small modular reactor](https://nuclearnewsnetwork.com/news/opg-seeks-licence-to-operate-first-g7-small-modular-reactor): OPG has applied to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for a 20-year licence to operate the first BWRX-300 at Darlington. A public hearing follows; if granted, the unit would be the first SMR to operate in a G7 country.
- [NRC opens environmental review of Holtec's Palisades new-build](https://nuclearnewsnetwork.com/news/nrc-opens-environmental-review-of-holtecs-palisades-new-build): The NRC has opened the environmental review tied to Holtec's application to site two SMR-300 reactors at Palisades in Covert, Michigan — one of the early gates the Pioneer project must clear before construction can be considered.
- [Fusion, explained: three ways to bottle a star](https://nuclearnewsnetwork.com/news/fusion-explained-three-ways-to-bottle-a-star): Fusion combines light atoms and releases enormous energy. Tokamaks confine plasma with magnetic donuts, stellarators twist the chamber itself, and inertial confinement compresses fuel pellets with lasers — all three chasing net energy that scales.
- [US opens DOME, a first-of-a-kind microreactor test bed](https://nuclearnewsnetwork.com/news/us-opens-dome-a-first-of-a-kind-microreactor-test-bed): The Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed has opened at Idaho National Laboratory, inside the repurposed EBR-II containment. It will let developers run fuelled microreactor experiments without building standalone facilities.

## Topics

ap300, bwrx-300, canada, education, financing, fuel-supply-chain, fusion, holtec, industry-business, microreactors, natrium, new-builds-smrs, operations-safety, poland, policy-regulation, reference, research-innovation, smr-300, us