Dallas 12-year-old achieves nuclear fusion after four years of effort
By Ben Hooper — February 10, 2026 — United Press International
A 12-year-old Dallas student’s four-year-long science project may have resulted in his becoming the youngest person to ever achieve nuclear fusion.
Aiden McMillan, a Dallas Independent School District seventh-grader, said he started work on his ambitious project when he was just 8 years old, and spent the first two years studying nuclear physics concepts before building his first prototypes.
He said it took some work to ensure his mother was comfortable with his tinkering.
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Congress passes new nuclear funding
Nuclear News — January 20, 2026
On January 15, in an 82–14 vote, the U.S. Senate passed an Energy and Water Development appropriations bill to fund the U.S. Department of Energy for fiscal year 2026 as part of a broader package that also funded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Key highlights: In total, the bill appropriates more than $49 billion to the DOE. Looking specifically at key areas of nuclear funding, some actions stand out:
- $1.785 billion was earmarked for the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
$3.1 billion in funding was reprogrammed from other areas of the DOE to the Office of Nuclear Energy for projects receiving cost-shared funding through the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. Those projects include grid-scale reactor demonstrations by TerraPower and X-energy and reactor concepts chosen for risk reduction awards under the ARDP, and for separate “Gen III+” small modular reactor deployment awards.
$150 million was provided to the Loan Programs Office (which is now called the Office of Energy Dominance Financing) to support additional credit subsidies for nuclear projects.
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US Senate passes bill to boost federal science spending after White House sought major cuts
By David Shepardson — January 15, 2026 — Reuters
The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to approve billions of dollars in funding for federal science agencies, rejecting deep cuts proposed by President Donald Trump in space and other areas.
The Senate bill approved significant science funding for NASA, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration above what the White House had sought. NSF will receive $8.75 billion for research efforts including in quantum information science, artificial intelligence and other areas.
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How does probing almond-shaped nuclei help push the boundaries of nuclear physics?
A new Argonne beamline collected measurements of the element ruthenium, helping to validate advanced nuclear models
By Michael Matz — January 9, 2026 — Reuters
A novel apparatus at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has made extremely precise measurements of unstable ruthenium nuclei. The measurements are a significant milestone in nuclear physics because they closely match predictions made by sophisticated nuclear models.
“It’s very difficult for theoretical models to predict the properties of complex, unstable nuclei,” said Bernhard Maass, an assistant physicist at Argonne and the study’s lead author. “We have demonstrated that a class of advanced models can do this accurately. Our results help to validate the models.”
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Researchers warn federal grant cuts threaten nuclear energy progress at UMich
By Patricia Leoncio — September 29, 2025 — The Michigan Daily
This April, the University of Michigan, along with other leading research institutions, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy. The suit seeks to nullify a new policy that caps federal funding at 15% for indirect research costs incurred by universities. Loss of funding for indirect costs — money spent on maintaining facilities and administration — particularly impacts nuclear energy research labs, including those at the University, as they require state-of-the-art equipment with expensive upkeep.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Adam Burak, assistant research scientist in the Thermal Hydraulics Lab within the Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences department, said continuing research progress in nuclear energy is important because it is a promising source of clean energy that utilizes uranium as opposed to traditional sources like coal.
Read the full article here.