Fuel'er up: After over two years of prep, Holtec International officially “began the process for loading nuclear fuel” into the Palisades reactor vessel. 

What’s next: Testing and inspections to ensure that the Michigan plant is ready to start splitting atoms. It’s required to start up by March 2027, when it’s set to send 805 MW to the grid (enough to power around 800K homes). Holtec is also planning to build two 300-MW SMRs onsite. 

Zoom out: The restart has faced local opposition, including concerns over the 54-year-old plant’s signs of age (like corroded equipment, leaking lines, and old valves).

The goals: BPA has released its 2026-2030 strategic plan, which emphasizes 1) growing the grid 2) protecting ratepayers 3) upping productivity and 4) maintaining safe and reliable operations.

The challenges include equipment waitlists, drought, employee recruiting, and aging assets.

The queue: As of last week, BPA had 56 GW of requests in its large generator interconnection queue, led by nearly 30 GW of solar and 10 GW of batteries.

The question everyone’s asking: No, the plan doesn’t explicitly indicate whether BPA will join SPP’s Markets+ day-ahead market. But it does note that “BPA’s participation in day-ahead market development is critical to the electricity industry evolution in the West.”

The project is “of critical national importance,” according to the complaint Oklo filed with FERC on Friday. It includes 150 MW of advanced nuclear, 300 MW of fuel cells, and 300 MW of gas…but the partially redacted doc doesn’t reveal much else.

The conflict: Oklo claimed it provided PJM all the necessary info in April to enroll in its new “first-ready, first-served” queue study process. But the grid operator withdrew the project due to several “deficiencies” (including Oklo’s alleged failure to show that it could ride through an unexpected drop in grid voltage).

The consequences: Oklo said PJM’s decision will set back the project by over a year and prompt “adverse financial impact.” Now, the company wants FERC to order PJM to return the project to its queue spot. 👇

The timeline: Nextnova will begin construction on its facility this November, with mass production slated for March 2027. And as demand grows, the factory could expand its capacity to 5 GW.

Good timing: Recent tariffs on imported solar materials make domestic production more important—and appealing—than ever. But there’s a major mismatch here: The US has around 11 GW of solar cell production capacity…while module capacity is >74 GW. Now, new facilities like Nextnova’s could help bridge that gap.

Now that’s hot: Startup Quaise wants to take geothermal to the next level by drilling up to 12 miles deep (around 3X the standard depth) and reaching 750°F "superhot" rock.

This financing round brings the company’s total funding to nearly $300M, and it includes $35M from drilling titan Nabors Industries. All that dough will help Quaise develop its Project Obsidian plant in Oregon, which targets over 1 GW of capacity.