Constellation Closes DOE Loan for $1 billion to Restart 835 MW Reactor
X-Energy Breaks Ground for TRISO Fuel Fabrication Plant
Utah Sets Plans for Six to Ten Holtec 300 MW SMRs
Aalo Atomics Collaborates with Microsoft to Advance AI-Driven Solutions
Army Names Nine Sites for Microreactors
Constellation Closes DOE Loan for $1 billion to Restart 835 MW Reactor
Constellation Energy Generation announced that the Department of Energy has approved a $1.0 billion loan to cover the costs of restarting the Crane Clean Energy Center, an 835 MW plant located on the Susquehanna River in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania. The loan will partially finance the restart of a reactor which ceased operations in 2019 but was never fully decommissioned.
The funds are being provided by DOE’s Loan Program Office. The loan is being issued under an existing $250 billion energy infrastructure program initially authorized by Congress in 2022. Neither DOE nor Constellation released terms of the loan. DOE’s Loan Program Office told Reuters that Constellation is guaranteeing the loan, and that loan structure would protect taxpayers if the project does not succeed.
Constellation said in a prepared statement. “Funded by the Energy Dominance Financing Program, this interest-bearing loan will lower Constellation’s cost of financing and leverage private investment to restore reliable nuclear energy to the grid and help America win the AI race.”
Constellation has estimated the total cost of restarting the plant is $1.6 billion. It will have to make up the $600 million difference between the DOE loan and total cost to complete the restart of the reactor. Constellation and Microsoft have signed a 20-year power purchase agreement to draw electricity generated by the reactors to power the computer giant’s data centers.
Restarting the plant will require an NRC license. Constellation began work to re-license the plant in November 2024. The firm submitted a 612 page application to resume power operations in July 2025. The NRC website for Constellation’s relicensing documentation does not list a date for completing the re-licensing process.
In 2024 Constellation said it planned to restart the reactor in 2028. However, in June 2025 Constellation said that due to an approval of an early interconnection request by PJM, the grid operator, the reactor could restart as early as 2027.
In 2019, Constellation Energy’s then-parent company Exelon shut down the reactor saying it was losing money. The Pennsylvania state legislature turned down a request to subsidize it to keep it running.
& & &
X-Energy Breaks Ground for TRISO Fuel Fabrication Plant
X-energy announced the start of vertical construction for its TX-1 fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The facility will be the first of its kind in the United States and will manufacture the company’s proprietary TRISO fuel for its commercial reactors. (Triso fuel elements. Image: X-Energy)
X-energy subsidiary TRISO-X recently selected Clark Construction Group for a $48.2 million award as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) to complete vertical construction. ARDP funding provides up to 50% cost sharing with X-energy for their Xe-100 Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project, including construction of the TX-1 fuel fabrication facility.
The group will start building the shell of the 214,812 square foot facility that will be used to fabricate 700,000 TRISO fuel pebbles each year, which is enough fuel for 11 Xe-100 small modular reactors.
TX-1 will be the first of two facilities planned for the site to fabricate the company’s ceramic fuel designed to withstand extreme temperatures and retain fission products under all reactor conditions.
The facility is on track to be the first Category II fuel fabrication facility licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is expected to bring more than 400 new jobs to the region.
In addition to ARDP funding, the U.S. Department of Energy also awarded X-energy $9 million in 2018 to support the initial design of the company’s fuel fabrication facility that later evolved into TX-1.
TRISO-X anticipates regulatory approval by May 2026 and recently received approval from the Department to spend an additional $30 million to secure long-lead procurement items to adhere to the overall project schedule.
Operations are projected to start the following year with the initial fuel production supporting X-energy’s first commercial reactor, a proposed four-unit plant in partnership with Dow Chemical Company at their chemical plant in Seadrift, TX. The proposed Long Mott Generating Station at Seadrift would be the first advanced nuclear facility to power an industrial site in the United States.
X-Energy TRISO Fuel Irradiation Testing Underway at INL
Pebbles of TRISO-X fuel recently began 13 months of irradiation testing at Idaho National Laboratory to evaluate fuel performance across operating scenarios and qualify them for commercial use. Over a 13-month trial, the experiments will evaluate fuel performance under different power levels, temperatures and burnup scenarios, which are essential for meeting Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards for commercial use in advanced reactors, including X-energy’s Xe-100 small modular reactor. Once testing is complete, post-irradiation examination will begin at INL and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Lightbridge Starts Uranium-zirconium Alloy Fuel Testing at INL
Lightbridge Corporation (Nasdaq: LTBR), a developer of advanced nuclear fuel technology, announced the start of irradiation testing of its enriched uranium-zirconium alloy fuel material samples in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The irradiation testing campaign is expected to provide essential data on the fuel alloy’s microstructural evolution, thermal conductivity properties, and other data as a function of burnup that are critical to the qualification and licensing of Lightbridge Fuel[tm] for future commercial use. This milestone represents a significant step forward in the company’s fuel development and testing program conducted under its Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with INL.
 & & &
Utah Sets Plans for Six to Ten Holtec 300 MW SMRs
(NucNet contributed to this report) The State of Utah has announced a landmark partnership between Hi Tech Solutions and advanced reactor developer Holtec International that could lead to the deployment of up to ten small modular reactors (SMRs). No sites or dates were announced for the SMRs. Also, utilities that would be customers for the SMRs and sites are still to be determined.
The project includes the planned deployment of advanced nuclear technologies including Holtec’s SMR-300 small modular reactor (SMR). It would establish the state’s first full-scale nuclear energy ecosystem by uniting advanced manufacturing, reactor deployment, and workforce development.
Hi Tech Solutions, which provides project management and oversight services for nuclear plants, and Holtec International will develop plans to build four to 10 SMRs in the Brigham City, UT, area. The planned reactors would generate energy, potentially for both civilian and military use. The town is located 60 miles north of Salt Lake City. The nearest military installation is Hill Air Force base located about 30 miles south of Bringham City, UT.
If approved and funded, the first units would likely break ground in the early 2030s. It is too early to estimate the cost of a fleet of ten 300 MW SMRs.
Bringham City’s Mayor was reported to have said he’s like to see his town get access to one of small modular reactors to meet its future power needs. A fleet of 10 300 MW SMRs would generate 3 GW of electrical power.
Brigham City Mayor DJ Bott told the Standard-Examiner that the city is moving forward with being a center for nuclear workforce development and SMR manufacturing.
“We announced a workforce training program that’s going to be established in Brigham City — that’s Hi Tech Solutions,” he said.
“Then the MOU between Hi Tech and Holtech will bring manufacturing to Northern Utah that will actually manufacture the small modular reactors in the future.”
A statement from the Start of Utah said the partnership marks a major milestone in Operation Gigawatt, Utah Governor Spencer Cox’s initiative to double the state’s installed energy capacity and create domestically sourced energy ecosystems.
The statement said the proposed project has received wide support, including from the governor and state legislature. Cox called the project a defining example of Utah’s “any-of-the-above” energy strategy to cultivate new energy sources to strengthen Utah’s role in America’s energy future.
Jeff Moss, executive director of the governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, said the plans entail a private-sector investment of $750 million.
The Utah project will undergo state and federal reviews including National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing in coordination with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
Holtec is currently in pre-application work with the NRC submitting a series of topical reports and white papers. No date is listed on the NRC website for a license application.
Holtec Plans in Utah are Its Latest SMR Projects
Patrick O’Brien, Director, Government Affairs and Communications, Holtec International, wrote in an email statement to Neutronbytes on 11/20/25 that with regard to plans by the State of Utah to promote nuclear energy, “The reality is that the state has an aggressive approach to nuclear, that is favorable to early deployments and the market for potential off takers (public, private, military, etc.) has allowed for project planning and growth opportunities.”
He added, “We are looking at multiple financing paths with private dollars, DOE loans (like at Palisades restart), our own capital and a potential public offering as options.”
Holtec has plans for SMRs in two other locations. O’Brien said, “Many of the details are still to be determined working with our partners at Hi-Tech. The first Holtec SMR-300 plants will be built at the repowered Palisades nuclear plant in Covert, Michigan. We intend to build additional units at our Oyster Creek site in New Jersey. Four units are planned.”
& & &
Aalo Atomics Collaborates with Microsoft to Advance AI-Driven Solutions in Nuclear Energy
Aalo Atomics announces a successful collaboration with Microsoft on generative AI for permitting the microreactor. The initiative rapidly iterated on the use of Microsoft’s Generative AI for Energy Permitting Solution Accelerator and AI agents to streamline complex regulatory and operational workflows across Aalo’s next-generation nuclear manufacturing and deployment programs.
“Our collaboration with Microsoft demonstrates what’s possible when leading AI technology combines with leading engineering,” said Yasir Arafat, CTO of Aalo Atomics.
“So far, we have tackled three of the most impactful challenges in the nuclear industry—using AI to simplify, accelerate, and ultimately transform how complex energy systems are licensed, built and operated at scale.”
The project achieved global recognition at Microsoft’s annual Hackathon, winning two awards related to the impact and technology advancement of the work.
“Aalo Atomics’ participation in the Microsoft Hackathon is a powerful example of how collaboration can accelerate innovation,” said Darryl Willis, Corporate Vice President Energy & Resources Industry at Microsoft.
“Together, the team began developing AI agents that leverage rich internal and external datasets—like design data and risk models—to embed generative AI into Aalo’s workflows, boosting permitting speed and operational efficiency.”
Through ongoing collaboration, Aalo Atomics and Microsoft are expanding the Generative AI for Permitting Solution Accelerator to include AI agents, laying the groundwork for a digital super-operator platform that can transform how complex energy systems are designed, approved, and built.
“Permitting remains one of the greatest bottlenecks in nuclear deployments,” added Jon Guidroz, SVP of Commercialization at Aalo Atomics.
“By integrating Microsoft Azure AI Foundry and agentic AI technology, we’re turning regulatory complexity into actionable intelligence.”
In September, the company broke ground on its first experimental extra-modular nuclear reactor, Aalo-X. The test reactor is part of the company’s participation in the US Department of Energy’s Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program.
This followed the successful raising of $100 million as part of a Series B fundraise. The firm has now raised more than $136 million.
& & &
Army Names Nine Sites for Microreactors
The Army named nine U.S. installations that could receive nuclear microreactors in the coming years as the service looks to the technology for increased and more resilient power production on its bases.
The locations that could receive microreactors by 2030 as part of the Army’s new Janus Program are: Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Campbell, Ky.; Fort Drum, N.Y.; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Wainwright, Alaska; Holston Army Ammunition Plant in Tennessee; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.; and Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announced the Janus Program last month. He said the Army’s plan is to partner with commercial industry to place the small nuclear power reactors on some of the Army’s posts. He added that while the Army has named nine potential sites, actual decisions on locations may change over time.
Army officials said the Janus Program would be a public-private program in which commercial companies own and operate nuclear microreactors on Army installations and under the service’s oversight. The main drivers of increased demand for power are the use of artificial intelligence capabilities and new weaponry.
The nine sites were chosen after an evaluation of “mission critical installations, energy requirements and resiliency gaps, power infrastructure, environmental and technical considerations.”
“These early site selections align with the Department of War’s goal of accelerating the pace of deploying on-site nuclear generation at our installations,” Jordan Gillis, the Army’s assistant secretary for installations, energy and environment, said in a prepared statement.
Army officials have described the latest generation of microreactors as a “significant technological advancement, in safety, security and waste management.”
In it press statement the Army listed some of the conditions for selecting a reactor design
They are safe by design, not by intervention protocols and have passive safety features.
Operational controls be accessible only from “within the Army installation.”
The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has given commercial companies a deadline of 12/15/25 to submit prototyping bids for the microreactors to be placed at Army installations by the end of 2030. DIU wants the companies to build microreactors capable of producing up to 20 MW of power.
For a deeper dive into the details about this Army microreactor program, see the report by World Nuclear News for 11/20/25.
# # #