Week 12 of 2025

Three nuclear energy innovation news!

♨️ Calogena (France), a subsidiary of the Gorgé Group, secures authorization to construct its inaugural 30 MWth low-pressure nuclear reactor at the CEA's Cadarache. The objective is to decarbonize the site's existing gas-powered heating network. Construction is slated to commence between 2029 and 2030, with the reactor serving as a prototype for a future roll-out in the district heating market.

☀️ Novatron Fusion Group AB (Sweden) closes a €10 million Series A1 funding round, led by Finnish energy company St1, which will bring its industry expertise and extensive network. The round also includes other new investors such as TomEnterprise AB, and Axon Partners Group. Novatron is developing a magnetic confinment fuson reactor based on an innovative design, with the objective to have a commercial fusion reactor operational during the next decade.

⚡ Focused Energy (Germany) inks a memorandum of understanding to construct a laser-based inertial fusion energy (IFE) plant at the former Biblis nuclear power plant site. The agreement was co-signed by various representatives of the political world as well at the Technische Universität Darmstadt, the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, SCHOTT and other industrial companies. Focused Energy aims to demonstrate net energy gain by 2028. The project is part of a broader initiative to repurpose decommissioned nuclear sites for advanced energy technologies.

👨‍🎓 Papers of the week: "Real-Time Elemental and Isotopic Measurements of Molten Salt Systems through Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy", Journal of the American Chemical Society (2025).

👉 Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy measures real-time chemical changes in molten salt.