The capital of Finland could soon be heated with nuclear energy. A pilot project designed to test nuclear-powered district heating is set to be built at a highly symbolic site: Helsinki’s recently decommissioned coal-fired power plant, the last of its kind in Finland.
This experiment from Finnish startup Steady Energy unfolds amid global momentum for nuclear power. In December 2023, a declaration pledging to triple nuclear energy to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 was signed by more than 20 countries, including Finland. According to a survey, 69% of Finns accept nuclear energy as a tool for combating climate change.
A similar transformation is underway throughout Europe. Most recently, the Swiss government presented draft legislation to end its ban on building new nuclear power plants. But the very existence of such a ban shows that the continent has long been deeply wary of atomic technology.
Divisions are still rife within the European Union, with its two largest economies sitting at opposing ends of the spectrum on nuclear power. While France derives most of its energy from it, Germany shut down its last reactor in 2023, and it is unclear whether its current government will change course.
However, the pro-nuclear camp scored a victory when the European Commission reversed a previous ban by listing “nuclear fission energy” among the sectors eligible to receive EU money in the 2028-2034 budget proposal it unveiled in July.
But going from ban to hitting the ground running is not easy—and that is what is required if Europe wants to keep pace with international competitors in a field that is once again rife with innovation. “I think it’s not too late yet, but the time is clearly now,” said Thorizon CEO Kiki Lauwers.
This spinoff from Dutch nuclear research institute NRG is part of a new wave of European companies leveraging the continent’s scientific expertise to build small modular reactors. Known as SMRs, they are a technological advancement that plays a major role in the momentum nuclear energy is seeing today.
True to their name, SMRs are compact and modular, allowing for fast deployment close to where power is needed. According to Italian physicist Stefano Buono, CEO and founder of French SMR company Newcleo, “Today, with technological maturity, strong investor appetite, and clearer regulation, SMRs have a real opportunity to define the future of nuclear and address the energy sector’s most pressing challenges.”
This is particularly welcome when they also enable shorter learning cycles that could benefit the industry as a whole. “While hurdles remain, recent progress is remarkable: SMRs, with their lower capital needs and faster build times, directly overcome the barriers that slowed the industry in the past,” Buono said.
Global competition heats up
As a result, countries worldwide are pursuing this technology at an accelerating pace. Following in the footsteps of China and Russia, the U.S. selected 11 advanced reactor projects under President Trump’s Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program, with the major ambition to have at least three test reactors operating by July 4, 2026. “They’re very fast in the race, and I think that is what is needed,” Lauwers said.
What makes nuclear power appealing to the Trump administration isn’t so much its lack of carbon emissions as the narrative around reliability, energy sovereignty, and expanding production capacity to meet demands from industry and AI. Big Tech companies have also taken note, especially regarding the potential of SMRs as a nimble complement to large-scale reactors.
“Today, with technological maturity, strong investor appetite, and clearer regulation, SMRs have a real opportunity to define the future of nuclear and address the energy sector’s most pressing challenges.”Stefano Buono, CEO and founder, Newcleo
With U.S. power demand from data centers forecast to double within five years, major tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are increasingly driving investment in nuclear projects. But there are only so many existing, large-scale nuclear plants that private companies can restart—increasing the appeal of SMRs as a near-term solution, albeit not an immediate one.
Unlike fusion, which remains a long shot, SMRs rely on established nuclear principles; but almost none are market-ready. For most designs, the challenge is scaling up to commercially affordable rates, while more innovative, fourth-generation designs (also known as advanced modular reactors, or AMRs) may be even more promising and scalable but remain further from commercial deployment.
All options come with their own set of challenges. French VC-funded startup Jimmy had to admit that its original design wouldn’t be compatible with competitive pricing, which will delay its plans by several years. Meanwhile, EDF subsidiary Nuward had to go back to the drawing board with its SMR plans in 2024, relaunching with a “simpler” design.
With no clear winner yet, the European Industrial Alliance on Small Modular Reactors, a public-private platform founded by the European Commission in 2024, has been edging its bets. Among the nine projects it recently picked are six light water reactors (five pressurized-water, one boiling-water), two lead-cooled fast reactors, and one molten salt reactor—Thorizon’s.
According to Lauwers, light water SMRs “basically use the same technology as the current big ones,” but Thorizon’s (fourth generation) approach is inherently safer. Equally importantly, molten salts can be made from uranium, thorium, or recycled spent nuclear fuel—with the latter two potentially boosting Europe’s energy security by reducing reliance on freshly imported uranium.
The prospect of better utilizing existing stocks of nuclear materials certainly opened doors for Thorizon in France. The Dutch startup partnered with French heavyweight Orano on a project hoping to recycle nuclear waste within the framework of national investment plan France 2030, through which it also received a €10 million grant. Overall, France plans to dedicate €1 billion to SMRs by 2030, positioning itself as a key player in Europe’s nuclear Renaissance.
Export opportunities
According to Jean-Baptiste Dupin, Chief Science Officer for Climate Tech at Paris-based think tank Zenon Research, “the fact that these SMR initiatives are part of a broader reindustrialization plan means that, ultimately, these SMRs are not just focused on France, which has a real export strategy. Otherwise, having 10 startups in France alone would not be sustainable.”
In Europe alone, the export market could be considerable, with countries like Belgium, Czechia, Finland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Romania also exploring SMR options.
“By making this bet, France could take the lead and position itself once again as a leader in a certain range of nuclear technologies, at least within Europe,” Dupin says.
It will have competition. The U.K. also pledged £2.5 billion for its own program, focusing on Rolls-Royce SMR, a division of the British aerospace and engineering giant, which has also set its sights on foreign markets. “If we are not market leader globally, we did something wrong,” Rolls-Royce chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic recently told the BBC, referring to the company’s expertise in building reactors for nuclear submarines.
Governments and regulators will have a central role to play in how the competitive landscape develops. The U.K. named Rolls-Royce SMR the sole preferred bidder for its SMR program in June. One month later, Newcleo announced it would substantially wind down its U.K. activities due to the lack of support and funding from the British government, relocating its headquarters from London to Paris.
Even within the European Union, there is fragmentation, without a single regulatory regime. Partly as a result, progress is happening more slowly than in the U.S., which is streamlining SMR licensing and testing ahead of its ambitious 2026 objective, and where companies like NuScale Power and X-Energy have already gone public. This has led to calls for bolder political leadership when it comes to nuclear energy in the EU.
Sama Bilbao y Leon, Director General at World Nuclear Association, a global body representing the nuclear industry, said WNA “calls on policymakers to translate energy policies into actionable industrial strategies that streamline licensing and permitting and help fast-track deployment of large-scale reactors while accelerating SMR and microreactor delivery.”
Nuclear vs renewables
One obstacle to faster licensing is public apprehension about living near nuclear facilities, no matter how small. SMR projects have found a workaround by targeting areas near existing reactors. But this approach also limits their potential to deliver on-site, low-carbon heat and electricity to heavy energy users like aluminum, steel, or chemical plants.
This creates a self-fulfilling scenario where skepticism about nuclear makes SMR projects less competitive against renewables. However, advocates say that the two are complementary, with SMRs providing dependable power that can adjust to inherently variable energy sources such as wind and solar power. In an explainer on SMRs, the International Atomic Energy Agency highlighted that these “could be paired with and increase the efficiency of renewable sources in a hybrid energy system.”
Buono is adamant that “nuclear is a safe, clean, and indispensable part of the energy transition.” And with SMRs getting closer to deployment, heavy industries, too, now see them as a tool to further reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. Fortune 500 Europe company Outokumpu, for instance, studied and confirmed the feasibility of building an SMR near its largest stainless steel plant in Tornio, Finland.
According to the International Energy Agency, this demand for firm, dispatchable and clean power from the private sector signals that SMRs can be a catalyst for change. However, the agency emphasizes that their success “will hinge on whether government support, innovation and new business models enable them to bring down their costs quickly enough.”
If that happens, the IEA predicts that SMRs could account for 10% of all nuclear capacity globally by 2040. Together with a new wave of large-scale reactors, this could enable Europe to make nuclear power a key part of its clean energy future.
SpaceX is preparing to sell insider shares in a transaction that would value Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker at as much as $800 billion, people familiar with the matter said, reclaiming the title of the world’s most valuable private company.
The details, discussed by SpaceX’s board of directors on Thursday at its Starbase hub in Texas, could change based on interest from insider sellers and buyers or other factors, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. SpaceX is also exploring a possible initial public offering as soon as late next year, one of the people said.
Another person briefed on the matter said that the price under discussion for the sale of some employees and investors’ shares is higher than $400 apiece, which would value SpaceX at between $750 billion and $800 billion. The company wouldn’t raise any funds though this planned sale, though a successful offering at such levels would catapult it past the record of $500 billion valuation achieved by OpenAI in October.
Elon Musk on Saturday denied that SpaceX is raising money at a $800 billion valuation without addressing Bloomberg’s reporting on the planned offering of insiders’ shares.
“SpaceX has been cash flow positive for many years and does periodic stock buybacks twice a year to provide liquidity for employees and investors,” Musk said in a post on his social media platform X.
The share sale price under discussion would be a substantial increase from the $212 a share set in July, when the company raised money and sold shares at a valuation of $400 billion. The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times earlier reported the $800 billion valuation target.
News of SpaceX’s valuation sent shares of EchoStar Corp., a satellite TV and wireless company, up as much as 18%. Last month, EchoStar had agreed to sell spectrum licenses to SpaceX for $2.6 billion, adding to an earlier agreement to sell about $17 billion in wireless spectrum to Musk’s company.
The world’s most prolific rocket launcher, SpaceX dominates the space industry with its Falcon 9 rocket that lifts satellites and people to orbit.
SpaceX is also the industry leader in providing internet services from low-Earth orbit through Starlink, a system of more than 9,000 satellites that is far ahead of competitors including Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Leo.
Elite Group
SpaceX is among an elite group of companies that have the ability to raise funds at $100 billion-plus valuations while delaying or denying they have any plan to go public.
An IPO of the company at an $800 billion value would vault SpaceX into another rarefied group — the 20 largest public companies, a few notches below Musk’s Tesla Inc.
If SpaceX sold 5% of the company at that valuation, it would have to sell $40 billion of stock — making it the biggest IPO of all time, well above Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion listing in 2019. The firm sold just 1.5% of the company in that offering, a much smaller slice than the majority of publicly traded firms make available.
A listing would also subject SpaceX to the volatility of being a public company, versus private firms whose valuations are closely guarded secrets. Space and defense company IPOs have had a mixed reception in 2025. Karman Holdings Inc.’s stock has nearly tripled since its debut, while Firefly Aerospace Inc. and Voyager Technologies Inc. have plunged by double-digit percentages since their debuts.
SpaceX executives have repeatedly floated the idea of spinning off SpaceX’s Starlink business into a separate, publicly traded company — a concept President Gwynne Shotwell first suggested in 2020.
However, Musk cast doubt on the prospect publicly over the years and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said in 2024 that a Starlink IPO would be something that would take place more likely “in the years to come.”
The Information, citing people familiar with the discussions, separately reported on Friday that SpaceX has told investors and financial institution representatives that it’s aiming for an IPO of the entire company in the second half of next year.
A so-called tender or secondary offering, through which employees and some early shareholders can sell shares, provides investors in closely held companies such as SpaceX a way to generate liquidity.
SpaceX is working to develop its new Starship vehicle, advertised as the most powerful rocket ever developed to loft huge numbers of Starlink satellites as well as carry cargo and people to moon and, eventually, Mars.
The National Park Service will offer free admission to U.S. residents on President Donald Trump’s birthday next year — which also happens to be Flag Day — but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.
The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.
Last year, the list of free days included Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth — which is June 19 — but not June 14, Trump’s birthday.
The new free-admission policy takes effect Jan. 1 and was one of several changes announced by the Park Service late last month, including higher admission fees for international visitors.
The other days of free park admission in 2026 are Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the anniversary of the creation of the Park Service (Aug. 25).
Eliminating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans were emancipated, removes two of the nation’s most prominent civil rights holidays.
Some civil rights leaders voiced opposition to the change after news about it began spreading over the weekend.
“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, wrote on social media about the new policy.
Kristen Brengel, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, said that while presidential administrations have tweaked the free days in the past, the elimination of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is particularly concerning. For one, the day has become a popular day of service for community groups that use the free day to perform volunteer projects at parks.
That will now be much more expensive, said Brengel, whose organization is a nonprofit that advocates for the park system.
“Not only does it recognize an American hero, it’s also a day when people go into parks to clean them up,” Brengel said. “Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a day of recognition … For some reason, Black history has repeatedly been targeted by this administration, and it shouldn’t be.”
Some Democratic lawmakers also weighed in to object to the new policy.
“The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” said Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. “Our country deserves better.”
A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday seeking information about the reasons behind the changes.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called out slow bureaucracy in Europe in a warning that a “weak” continent poses a major economic risk to the US.
“Europe has a real problem,” Dimon said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “They do some wonderful things on their safety nets. But they’ve driven business out, they’ve driven investment out, they’ve driven innovation out. It’s kind of coming back.”
While he praised some European leaders who he said were aware of the issues, he cautioned politics is “really hard.”
Dimon, leader of the biggest US bank, has long said that the risk of a fragmented Europe is among the major challenges facing the world. In his letter to shareholders released earlier this year, he said that Europe has “some serious issues to fix.”
On Saturday, he praised the creation of the euro and Europe’s push for peace. But he warned that a reduction in military efforts and challenges trying to reach agreement within the European Union are threatening the continent.
“If they fragment, then you can say that America first will not be around anymore,” Dimon said. “It will hurt us more than anybody else because they are a major ally in every single way, including common values, which are really important.”
He said the US should help.
“We need a long-term strategy to help them become strong,” Dimon said. “A weak Europe is bad for us.”
The administration of President Donald Trump issued a new national security strategy that directed US interests toward the Western Hemisphere and protection of the homeland while dismissing Europe as a continent headed toward “civilizational erasure.”
JPMorgan has been ramping up its push to spur more investments in the national defense sector. In October, the bank announced that it would funnel $1.5 trillion into industries that bolster US economic security and resiliency over the next 10 years — as much as $500 billion more than what it would’ve provided anyway.
Dimon said in the statement that it’s “painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing.”
Investment banker Jay Horine oversees the effort, which Dimon called “100% commercial.” It will focus on four areas: supply chain and advanced manufacturing; defense and aerospace; energy independence and resilience; and frontier and strategic technologies.
The bank will also invest as much as $10 billion of its own capital to help certain companies expand, innovate or accelerate strategic manufacturing.
Separately on Saturday, Dimon praised Trump for finding ways to roll back bureaucracy in the government.
“There is no question that this administration is trying to bring an axe to some of the bureaucracy that held back America,” Dimon said. “That is a good thing and we can do it and still keep the world safe, for safe food and safe banks and all the stuff like that.”
Politics8 years ago