Two energy financings closed within hours of each other, aimed at the same shortage from opposite ends. Antares, developing one-megawatt reactors for United States military bases, raised $370 million in equity and $100 million in debt in a round co-led by Paradigm and Caffeinated. French carrier Orange and infrastructure investor Morrison agreed to build a data center platform in France targeting 400 megawatts, backed by a €3 billion investment program.

Oklo Inc. has cleared a major regulatory milestone for its Groves Isotope Test Reactor in Lockhart, Texas, after the U.S. Department of Energy granted startup authorization under the agency’s Reactor Pilot Program. The approval lets Oklo begin loading nuclear fuel, run startup testing, and move toward first criticality at the facility. The pace of the buildout stands out. Oklo went from breaking ground to DOE startup authorization in just over ten months, a span that included constructing the reactor facility, standing up the operating organization, training personnel, writing nuclear programs and procedures, and sourcing fuel and major equipment commercially.

President Trump’s Executive Order 14301, “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy,” attached a hard deadline to America’s nuclear ambitions: at least three participants in the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program were meant to achieve criticality by July 4, 2026. That deadline has now passed, and it functions as a real-time stress test of how fast the “nuclear renaissance” rhetoric can translate into operating reactors. The pilot program mechanism.

The rapid shift to nuclear power in France is often hailed as a benchmark for efficient and effective climate action. Beginning in the 1970s, France embarked on an ambitious nuclear energy program that has since positioned it as a global leader in nuclear power generation. Today, approximately 70% of France’s electricity is derived from nuclear energy. This transition was motivated by the oil crises of the 1970s, which highlighted the need for energy security and independence.