Week 11 of 2025

Three nuclear energy innovation news!

🚀 Pulsar Fusion (UK) unveils the Sunbird project, a nuclear fusion rocket engine prototype. It uses a deuterium and helium-3 fuel mix with magnetically confined fusion plasma, achieving exhaust speeds exceeding 800,000 km/h. It is designed to enable missions like Pluto in as little as 4 years without mid-flight refueling. The first in-orbit demonstration of some of the key components is planned for 2027.

🧂 Thorizon (NL) secures €20 million in funding from investors including Positron Ventures, Invest-NL, and Impuls Zeeland. The funding will support the further development of its 250 MWth Thorizon One molten salt reactor (MSR), with a goal of building a pilot plant by the early 2030s.

💻 Westinghouse Electric Company (US) and Data4 Group (FR) sign a memorandum of understanding to explore deploying Westinghouse's AP300 small modular reactors (SMR) to power Data4's future European data centers. This collaboration aims to address the anticipated 165% increase in data center power demand by 2030. The AP300 SMR is a 300 MWe pressurized water reactor (PWR) derived from the proven AP1000. The first commercial unit is expected to be operational in the early 2030s.

👨‍🎓 Papers of the week: "The role of nuclear energy and baseload demand in capacity expansion planning for low-carbon power systems", Applied Energy (2025).

👉 Higher nuclear shares in energy mixes reduce storage, transmission, curtailment, and land use needs.