The Nuclear Innovation Alliance has welcomed the reintroduction of the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act last week by five US senators, three Republicans and two Democrats. This represents continued bipartisan support for advanced reactors, the non-profit "think and do" tank said.

Vancouver-based International Consolidated Uranium has agreed to buy the Tony M, Daneros and Rim conventional uranium mines in Utah, as well as the Sage Plain property and eight Department of Energy leases in Colorado from Energy Fuels Inc. In addition, the companies have agreed to enter into toll-milling and operating agreements with respect to the projects. The transaction positions International Consolidated Uranium as a potential near-term US uranium producer.

Kairos Power is to establish a low-power demonstration reactor at the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge, investing USD100 million in a project to demonstrate its capability to deliver low-cost nuclear heat. The Hermes reactor is a scaled version of Kairos Power’s Fluoride Salt-Cooled High Temperature Reactor, an advanced reactor technology that aims to be cost competitive with natural gas in the US electricity market. The Hermes reactor is scheduled to be operational in 2026.

Oklo Inc has announced a 20-year commercial partnership with Compass Mining, the world's first online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware and hosting. Oklo’s "advanced fission powerhouses" will provide clean, reliable and affordable baseload power for Compass’ bitcoin mining machines, starting in the early 2020s.

Three reactor design concept proposals for a nuclear thermal propulsion system for deep space missions have been selected by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Energy. The reactor will be a critical component of a nuclear thermal engine, which would utilise high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel.

Holtec is preparing to increase production of its HI-STAR casks, following the receipt of regulatory approvals and new orders in Europe. The first HI-STAR 150 was loaded at the Cofrentes nuclear power plant in Spain and placed into the storage facility on 23 June. This is Holtec's first dual-purpose metal cask loaded in Europe.

Optimisation work at unit 2 of the Zaporozhe nuclear power plant in Ukraine could lead to the addition of 1000 MW of generation capacity if it is also conducted at the country's other reactors, according to the US Department of Energy. The DOE has been working with Argonne National Laboratory and Ukraine's NT-Engineering to help nuclear power plant operator Energoatom enhance its approach to maintenance.

The US Army Corps of Engineers with the Alaska State Office and other parties has finalised an agreement on how to preserve the history of a mothballed nuclear reactor at Fort Greely, Alaska. Final decommissioning of the 20.2 MW (thermal) SM-1A pressurised water reactor, which operated from 1962 to 1972, is due to begin next year.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing an application by GE Hitachi to renew its licence to possess, transfer and store radioactive material at the Morris Operation, an ISFSI (independent spent fuel storage installation). The renewed license would authorise GEH to continue to store radioactive material for an additional 20 years.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has decided to discontinue its considerations of regulatory and other changes to allow reactor operators to apply for 40-year licence renewals - which could conceivably mean 100-year operating lives. It has however recommended, amongst other things, further evaluations to address the potential for reactor operations up to 100 years.

Westinghouse Electric Company has announced the launch of front-end engineering and design work under a grant from the United States Trade and Development Agency "to progress" the nuclear energy programme in Poland. Westinghouse said the FEED is one of the key elements in the implementation of the Intergovernmental Agreement between Poland and the USA regarding cooperation to develop a civil nuclear power programme. The preparation of the FEED will be mostly funded by the US government.

NASA has marked the 60th anniversary of the launch into space of its first nuclear-powered satellite. Transit IV-A - an experimental navigational satellite with a radioisotope-powered generator - was launched by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory from Cape Canaveral on 29 June 1961, and NASA has since flown more than 25 missions carrying a nuclear power system.