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Trump Signs Executive Order to Loosen and Expand Nuclear Energy Regulations

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On Friday, President Donald Trump enacted four executive orders designed to ease and broaden regulations surrounding nuclear production.

The orders focus on overhauling the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy research, facilitating the construction of reactors on federally owned land, reforming the Nuclear Regulation Authority, and accelerating U.S. uranium mining and enrichment efforts.

Alongside Trump, CEOs from various nuclear energy firms—such as Joseph Dominguez of Constellation Energy, Jacob DeWitt of Oklo, and Scott Nolan of General Substances—joined President Pete Hegses and Secretary of Interior Doug Burgham during the signing of the orders.

President Donald Trump displays an executive order he signed on May 23, 2025, in the Oval Office at the White House.
Get McNamee/Getty Images

Before the signing, Burgham remarked that this initiative “reverses over 50 years of excessive regulation on the industry,” and he added that “each of these will address another challenge that has hindered progress.”

Trump referred to the nuclear energy sector as “dynamic,” asserting to reporters, “It’s a dynamic industry. It’s a tremendous industry. It needs to be handled correctly.”

A senior administrator briefing reporters prior to the signing indicated that one executive order aimed at permitting nuclear reactors on federal land is designed to meet rising electricity demands linked to AI technology. They emphasized that “safe and reliable nuclear energy will provide power to vital defense installations and AI data centers.”

The executive order also seeks to expedite the review and regulatory processes for nuclear reactor construction and operation. The fourth order stipulates that the Nuclear Regulation Authority must make licensing decisions for new reactors within an 18-month timeframe, according to officials.

This new timeline aims to “reduce regulatory obstacles and shorten licensing periods” for nuclear reactors.

Dominguez commended the president’s initiative to streamline the nuclear regulation framework, noting, “Historically, regulatory delays have plagued our industry.”

“We often spend too long seeking approval and addressing irrelevant questions instead of the crucial ones,” he added.

Nuclear energy is viewed as a means to transition away from fossil fuels and lower greenhouse gas emissions since it generates electricity without the combustion of coal, oil, or natural gas.

Despite the tripling of solar and wind energy production in the U.S. over the last decade, there remain concerns that current energy sources will struggle to meet soaring energy demands.

Just before the president signed the executive order in his elliptical office, Heggs informed reporters, “We are integrating artificial intelligence across the board. If not, we cannot keep pace. We cannot afford to fall behind. Nuclear energy is essential to powering this.”

Recent reports have projected a 25% increase in U.S. electricity demand by 2030 (compared to 2023), with a staggering 78% rise by 2050, largely due to the surge in AI technology.

Even with the regulatory framework advancing, it may take years to complete the construction and enhancement of nuclear infrastructure. Furthermore, nuclear energy involves significant risks when compared to other green energy alternatives, requiring long-term plans for managing and disposing of hazardous waste, and risks related to potential core meltdowns or terrorist attacks that could release radioactive materials into the environment.

Additionally, Trump signed a fifth executive order on Friday aimed at “restoring trusted scientific rigor as the cornerstone of federal research,” according to officials.

Michael Krazios, head of the White House Office of Science and Technology, informed reporters that this executive order “ensures continued American strength and global leadership in the fields of science and technology.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Increased power outages likely to expand nationwide in the U.S.

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A new report predicts that power outages lasting more than eight hours will increase in the United States in the coming years due to climate change. Extreme weather events caused by climate change, such as cyclones, are making it challenging to cope with these outages. Severe weather events that occur simultaneously, like wildfires during heat waves, are already causing more prolonged power outages, according to a study published in the journal agreement.

From 2000 to 2023, 80% of power outages in the US were weather-related, and this number is expected to rise further due to the increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather events accelerated by climate change. These events not only come with economic costs but also health risks, disrupting essential services like heating, air conditioning, and medical equipment.

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More than 400,000 homes and businesses in California lost power due to recent devastating wildfires

While it may not be possible to prevent weather events, researchers believe that tracking patterns can help in better preparing for power outages and distributing aid effectively. Understanding when and where power outages coincide with severe weather events can help mitigate their impact, particularly as aging power grids and climate change lead to more severe weather.

A study analyzed weather events from 2018 to 2020, finding that nearly 75% of US counties experienced significant power outages during dangerous weather events. The study also observed an increase in simultaneous power outages and wildfires along the West Coast from 2018 to 2020.

Researchers are now working on simulating different dangerous weather combinations in various regions to develop effective response plans across the country. Doctoral student and lead author of the study, Vivian Do, emphasized the importance of understanding these patterns to minimize the societal impact of power outages during severe weather events.

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Akron Energy secures $110 million investment to expand Bitcoin mining operations and launch AI cloud services in Norway

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Akron Energy data center infrastructure company has closed a $110 million private funding round to expand its business, CEO Josh Payne exclusively tells TechCrunch.

The round was led by Bluesky Capital Management with participation from Kestrel 0x1, Nural Capital, and Florence Capital.

The company was founded in 2021 and started with a 5-megawatt site in Australia. Since then, its output has grown to over 130 MW, and it has expanded to other countries and regions such as the United States and Europe.

“These sites are attractive to both Bitcoin miners and AI.” [or] It’s a machine learning client that requires very high-powered computing,” Payne said. By the way, statistics show that 1 megawatt can power 400 to 900 homes per year. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Approximately $80 million will be used to acquire an additional 200 megawatts of capacity across new data centers in Ohio, North Carolina, and Texas as part of the company’s plan to increase its total megawatt capacity by 130% by mid-2024. be exposed. This is in addition to an existing 100-megawatt facility in Ohio that Akron purchased in June, Payne noted.

“The United States is an attractive market for us in many ways, primarily due to huge domestic customer demand, a mature and robust energy industry with multiple flexible deregulated markets, and a strong political and・Regulatory stability and attractiveness to institutional investors,” Payne said. “The United States has a wealth of underutilized and stranded generation assets that are connected to some of the lowest-cost power sources in the world, many of which are renewable.”

Payne said the majority of the company’s U.S. data center portfolio is made up of institutional-grade Bitcoin mining companies. “We are essentially landlords who own the underlying infrastructure assets.”

Akron’s business model is focused on strategically acquiring distressed data center assets around the world. “The current and future demand for data center capacity of all types seen around the world, especially in the United States, is unprecedented and huge. We have energy-intensive platforms that require significant amounts of electrical infrastructure.”

The remaining $30 million will be used to develop an artificial intelligence cloud services project at Akron’s data center in Norway to help serve the generative AI and large-scale language model training markets. “Over the past year, we have seen a significant acceleration in market demand for generative AI and large-scale learning model applications,” he said.

However, there is a lack of specialized physical infrastructure to power computers and support most of these products. Akron aims to fill that gap by providing the underlying infrastructure layer that the AI ​​sector relies on.

Over the past year, with spot ETF approval looming, on top of Bitcoin’s potential growth and adoption in the mainstream institutional market, there has been a “meteorous rise in AI applications,” such as Akron’s Specialized data centers are “poised to continue to grow exponentially,” Payne said.

Source: techcrunch.com

Chinese AI Startup Profoundly Committed to Advancing Humanity through Science Looks to Expand into the US Market

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Amid rising geopolitical tensions, many Chinese tech companies are recalibrating their overseas operations, often avoiding mention of their origins. A bold startup DP technology Stand out in the crowd. Working on the application of artificial intelligence to molecular simulations, DP (short for “Deep Potential”) believes that the collective power of “scientific research for humanity” will pave the way for its global expansion.

Founded in 2018 with renowned mathematician Weinan E as an advisor, DP provides a set of tools for performing scientific calculations. A process in which “computer simulations of mathematical models play an essential role in technology development and scientific research.” according to Definition by University of Waterloo. Areas that can benefit from scientific computing include: From biopharmaceutical research and automobile design to semiconductor development.

While the world is currently focused on using AI to generate text, images, and videos, DP is focusing on machine learning, which allows computers to automatically learn from the data they are given, and the real world. We found ourselves in a less developed field of combining molecular simulations for analysis. Products and systems via virtual models. Machine learning can be applied in combination to improve the speed and accuracy of simulations to solve problems in the physical world.

“Until now, in the absence of good computing or AI platforms, everyone relied on empirical trial and error. The process was often referred to as ‘cooking’ or ‘alchemy.'” DP CEO and founder Sun Weijie said in an interview with TechCrunch.

“This approach was relatively effective in the early stages of industrial development, when user expectations for iteration were not very high, but now [technological] “It’s progress,” he continued. “For example, consumers expect increased battery capacity every year and performance improvements with each new generation of vehicles. Traditional R&D models can no longer withstand these rapid market changes. you can’t.”

“Meeting the expectations of these rapid iterations will require breakthrough advances in research and development approaches,” he added.

To this end, DP has devised a software suite to help industry players discover and develop new products more efficiently. One is that we run a scientific computing platform that allows us to simulate physical properties such as magnetism, optics, and electricity. As a result of running these models, materials such as semiconductors and batteries can be designed faster and cheaper. He also operates his SaaS platform focused on preclinical research for drug discovery.

DP goes one step further by not only supplying software to industrial researchers and designers, but by selling services tailored to their needs and carrying out research and development processes for customers who cannot fully exploit the potential of their tools. I’m here.

This combination of SaaS and services business model has proven some early success in China. DP is expected to win contracts worth around 100 million yuan ($14 million) in 2023, up from “tens of millions of yuan” last year. The company is now preparing to bring that strategy to Western markets, where deep-pocketed giants like DeepMind dominate the space.

“There’s an old saying in China: ‘Children from poor families grow up early.’ We’re the poor kids compared to the likes of DeepMind and OpenAI because we have much less money on hand.” Sun said.

To date, the DP has focused on the following issues: $140 million Selected from a lineup of top Chinese VC firms, including Qiming Venture Partners and Hillhouse Ventures. For reference, 13-year-old DeepMind was acquired by Google in 2014 for over $500 million. The London-based AI giant made a whopping £477 million ($650 million) in 2020, reporting a profit of £44 million ($60 million). ) losses in 2019.

Sun claimed that despite having its physical headquarters in Beijing, DP was conceived with a global mindset thanks to the open source scientific and technical computing community it founded. deep modeling. Early stops in China were also more accidental than intentional. “Since international exchange has stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to stop and work on monetization.” [in China] “For the first two years,” Sun said.

DP’s international expansion begins in the United States, where it opens offices and works with partners to market its products and services. The startup, which is looking to establish a presence in new markets, is looking to boost its reputation by leveraging the open source community and participating in what Sun describes as a relatively “close-knit” basic research exhibition. There is.

On the other hand, the DP’s international ambitions may run into obstacles from the ongoing decoupling that divides the United States and China in many areas, including scientific research. For example, back in August, Biden administration stretched narrowly The scientific partnership has underpinned U.S.-China relations since 1979.

But Sun exuded confidence in science’s resilience in the face of geopolitical complexity. “Both the fields of basic science and biopharmaceuticals are shared by all of humanity and are relatively open and inclusive. Relatively speaking, I think these regions are doing okay,” he said.

Source: techcrunch.com

Soum, a re-commerce marketplace, secures $18 million to expand in the MENA region.

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The global recommerce market is poised to grow as consumers more and more Some settle for second-hand goods to save costs and observe conscious consumption. The global recommerce market is expected to continue into the future. growth Markets like Saudi Arabia are growing rapidly soom aims to reach users in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Soum was founded in 2021 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is currently aiming to expand its growth to other MENA countries, starting with the United Arab Emirates. The plan is fueled by recent $18 million Series A funding.

The round was led by Saudi Arabia’s Jahez Group, with participation from New York-based Isometry Capital, along with existing investors Khwarizmi Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, and Outliers Venture Capital. This follows the acquisition of $4 million in seed funding in 2021.

Beyond expansion, the startup, which features electronics in its top list, is also increasing the categories it covers by including products such as cars and collectibles.

“We are expanding into different regions and are looking at the entire MENA region.To realize our vision of being the place to sell everything from mobile phones to cars, we are developing new We have also started testing categories.” Fahad Al Hassanco-founder of Soum bader al mubarak and Fahad Albassam.

“We want to make buying and selling easier and accessible to everyone,” said Al Hassan, who previously worked as a consultant at PwC and as a strategic manager at the Saudi Ministry of Internal Affairs and Reform. .

Abdulaziz Alhouti, chief investment officer of Jahez Group, the parent company of Jahez, a Saudi food delivery platform that went public in 2021, commented on the round to TechCrunch: It’s a good job, but as the digital age advances, we need something more convenient, frictionless, sustainable, and reliable. This is the preposition that Soum brings to the table. ”

Soum manages the entire process from listing to delivery. Shipping is supported by third-party logistics partners. To list a product, sellers must submit images of the product for pre-approval. The startup also processes and holds payments until the buyer confirms receipt as a fraud precaution.

Al Hassan said that most products take three to four days to be delivered, and if users are not satisfied with the product, they can initiate a return within 24 hours. The company plans to extend the return period for some products to one week or even one month.

The startup makes money through commissions every time a product is sold. Prices are determined based on a variety of factors, including supply and demand.

“The commission is 10-20% of the product price. The more valuable the product, the lower the percentage, and the more frequent the seller, the lower the percentage. Therefore, multiple factors are taken into account,” Al Hassan He said, adding that more than 30,000 properties are listed on Sumu every month. iPhones and laptops are the best-selling products.

Al Hassan expects further growth for the company as the adoption of indigenous solutions continues and Saudi Arabia promotes local solutions to break away from dependence on international markets. Additionally, the country is said to be in the midst of a technology boom, with data showing a rapid increase in the number of e-commerce transactions. business and the spread of electronic services.

Source: techcrunch.com

Lingrove secures $10 million funding to expand its carbon-negative wood alternative

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These days, even niche industries are concerned about people seeking greener material and process options, from washing machine waste to synthetic wool. ring glove uses laminates (thin layers of wood or other materials) with carbon-negative options that they claim will improve performance while still looking the same.

Laminate or veneer is common in every home and car. These are thin decorative pieces of wood that are placed over the molded or printed bodies of dashboards, appliances, and even home trim. It’s everywhere, but unfortunately, it’s not always sustainably sourced or manufactured.

Lingrove has developed an alternative to wood veneer from flax fibers and plant-based resins. This will be a material that is carbon negative yet has “very high stiffness, durability, and durability,” meaning it will be better for feel, temperature, and other materials (such as coffee). ). They call it “ekoa” (yes, in lowercase) and hope to expand into cars and other interior surfaces with a new $10 million funding round.

The Series B round was led by Lewis & Clark Agrifood and Diamond Edge Ventures, with participation from Bunge Ventures and SOSV.

The company claims that its materials are not only environmentally friendly and comparable or better in terms of strength etc., but can also have a positive impact on indoor air quality. Recycled plastics and other repurposed materials are often used for things like cabinetry and trim, but such surfaces often lack the desired appearance, hardness, and other qualities, and in some cases, There can be quite a bit of fumes (that’s the “new car smell”). ).

Image credits: ring glove

“We have healthy air, low carbon, high performance and beautiful products,” said CEO Joe Luttwak. “The use of industrial raw materials can be environmentally beneficial in some cases. However, many of their byproducts still emit VOCs. [volatile organic compounds] These negatively impact indoor air quality and cannot produce high-performance materials. ”

ekoa material has excellent performance, does not allow strange gases to seep into your kitchen or car cabin, and looks almost the same as regular wood. It can be fine-tuned to have different shades and opacity, has all the benefits of engineered laminates while generally being carbon negative, and can be crushed and reused when disposed of.

Image credits: ring glove

You may be wondering, like I did, why not just use real wood, i.e. things like sawdust and wood chips that already come out of the industrial wood treatment process. According to Luttwak, these are perfectly good structural materials, the ones in the center of the board, but they are not decorative. There’s a reason things like MDF boards tend to have at least one side covered in veneer. The interior wood glue mixture is unappealing and not particularly resistant to solvents, oils, etc.

Veneers aren’t the hottest or most exciting business to work on, but innovation is happening in a corner of the industry where smart alternatives can scale up to millions of products and at least reduce waste a little. It’s always reassuring to see that.

The new investment should help the startup go from small-scale in-house manufacturing to fulfilling all pre-orders and expanding into the automotive world.

Source: techcrunch.com

In Orbit Aerospace Aims to Expand as a Third-Party Logistics Provider for Science and Industry

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Space startup in its second year of establishment orbital aerospace The company wants to become a third-party logistics provider for commerce from Earth to space. And to get there, the company just signed a new contract to validate key technical capabilities of the International Space Station.

The El Segundo, California-based company develops orbital platforms and reentry vehicles that enable mass manufacturing and research in space. In Orbit’s plans are more than a little ambitious. The idea is to host customer factories and laboratories on an orbital platform. An unmanned reentry vehicle would autonomously dock and rendezvous with the platform, and robotic systems would transfer manufactured materials to the vehicle, which would then return the products to Earth.

“Automation and robotics are the backbone of industrial production on the planet,” CEO Ryan Elliott said in a statement. “It should be no different in space.”

It’s a mistake to think that In Orbit is trying to compete with space manufacturing companies like Varda Space and Space Forge, Elliott said in a recent interview. “Their customers and our customers are fundamentally different,” he said. “We handle logistics, on-orbit hosting, [but] We don’t manufacture the materials ourselves. ”

Elliott and his two co-founders, Antonio Coelho and Ishaan Patel, have been driving this effort for just over two years. The company has raised about $2 million to date, and the team is currently raising money to support a demonstration mission in mid-to-late 2026.

For its first mission, the company will work with a satellite bus provider that will host an orbital platform and a subscale version of the reentry rocket. If all goes as planned, the mission will demonstrate transporting material from a host platform to an atmospheric reentry vehicle and back to Earth.

In Orbit has a huge amount of work ahead of it. The company must ensure rendezvous and docking, cargo transfer between the two spacecraft, and reentry processes. Elliott said rendezvous, docking and reentry were particularly challenging.

“There’s so much commercial hardware out there for parachute and heat shield suppliers,” he said. “Simulation and testing are also very difficult. You can’t test reentry in all the different environmental parameters on Earth. The only way to do it is through flight testing.”

The new contract with NASA is part of the company’s efforts to minimize these risks. Under the new Space Law Agreement, In Orbit is partnering with Nanoracks to demonstrate autonomous docking and robotic transport in a zero-gravity environment. Nanoracks, now owned by Voyager Space, has had a commercial presence on the ISS for many years and frequently provides support to newcomers looking to take advantage of the ISS National Laboratory. In-orbit testing will occur in mid-to-late 2025 at the earliest, Elliott said.

On a longer-term scale, In Orbit aims to launch a second mission in 2026 and then partner with a spacecraft provider to set up a manufacturing lab in orbit. The ultimate goal is simply to leave the hardware in space and launch a reentry capsule that rendezvous with and docks with an orbiting platform.

In Orbit expects its core customers to be manufacturers who want to outsource Orbit hosting. Those customers might work with, for example, pharmaceutical or semiconductor companies looking to manufacture products in space.

“The percentage of people who want to manufacture things in space is increasing exponentially,” Elliott said. “There’s a lot of hype around it. NASA is putting more money into it. The Department of Defense is very interested. There’s just more to come.”

Source: techcrunch.com

Gozen Secures $3.3 Million Investment from Happiness Capital, SoSV, and More to Expand Production of Lab-Grown Leather

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Like it or not, the leather industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global waste generation. Current methods being used to meet the increasing demand for leather involve very simple and completely unsustainable solutions. It is simply raising more livestock (this is 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions).

But now there are startups leading the way in developing bio-based alternatives that have properties similar to, or even better than, traditional leather.

Alternative leather startup gelatex To date, we have raised $1.3 million from Estonia. Based in Copenhagen, Beyond leather We produce plant-based, eco-friendly alternatives to animal leather. It has raised 1.2 million euros so far.

Vitro Lab The San Jose-based company has raised $54.4 million and is developing a platform to make leather using stem cell-based technology. Meanwhile, modern meadow is working on lab-grown leather (among other materials) and has raised $183.6 million.

As you can see, there is a lot of interest in this area.

Now, a startup originally from Turkey and now based in San Francisco thinks it has come up with a game-changing product.

Gozen has now raised $3.3 million in a seed funding round led by Happiness Capital (lead investor) with participation from Accelr8, Astor Management, and Valley-based SOSV. The company is currently planning a facility in Turkey with a production capacity of up to 1 million square feet.

The startup’s biomaterial Lunaform is vegan, plastic-free, and produced by microorganisms during the fermentation process. The material is intended for use in the fashion and automotive industries, and the company has patented the technology in Turkey and is applying for patents in other countries.

The material was unveiled at the Balenciaga Summer 24 show during Paris Fashion Week earlier last month.
Gozen said Lunaform is a unique, fully formed material that ultimately provides increased strength and flexibility. (Using multiple layers of plant-based composite leather makes it more susceptible to damage). With customizable thickness and texture, he can be produced in 13 square foot sheets.

Ese Gozen, founder and CEO of GOZEN, told me over the phone: We use a fermentation transplantation system that creates the material in just 10 days. Now that the formulation is solid, it’s time to harvest it. This is microbial cellulose, which is another type of cellulose. ”

She said the resulting material was “very strong and very thin.” The current material is 0.2mm, giving it a unique texture. Contains no plastic or toxic chemicals. ”

He added that he has a startup plan that aims not only for fashion but also for the automobile industry.

Poe Bronson, managing director of SOSV IndieBio, Gozen’s first investor, added in a statement: However, I believed that your approach could outperform other approaches in both performance and economy. ”

No matter what happens, the market is growing.

The global leather products market size is projected It is expected to grow from $468.49 billion in 2023 to $738.61 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 6.7%.

Source: techcrunch.com