Week 43

Three nuclear energy innovation news!

⛽ Finally some light shed on Peter Thiel's stealth high assay low-enrichment uranium (HALEU) startup. It would appear to be General Matter Inc, a company registered in California earlier this year. The CEO, Scott Nolan, is a former SpaceX employee and partner at Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund. The startup was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), alongside Urenco, Orano and Centrus Energy Corp., to establish a US domestic production of HALEU.

⛽ In France, Orano creates two "sharing groups" to pool advance reactor startups needs relating to fuel. The first one is dedicated to mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel used in fast neutron reactors (FNR), and includes HEXANA, newcleo, and Otrera Energy. The second one is dedicated to liquid fuel for fast neutron molten salt reactors (MSR), and includes NAAREA, STELLARIA, and THORIZON. A great initiative to ensure a minimum level of standardisation and interoperability.

⛽ Clean Core Thorium Energy signs a partnership deal with Larsen & Toubro, India’s leading technology-powered conglomerate. Clean Core is a US startup that developed a new type of fuel, consisting out of a mixture of thorium and enriched uranium. It has the potential to reduce both life-cycle operating costs and waste production. L&T’s engineering and manufacturing capabilities will enable mass production and deployment of this new fuel.

👨‍🎓 Paper of the week: "Neck Rupture and Scission Neutrons in Nuclear Fission", Physical Review Letters (2024).

👉 Most accurate description yet of nucleus fission dynamics.