nuclear

They are going to begin the most ambitious nuclear fusion experiments in history

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The largest experimental reactor of this type tokamak for nuclear fusion that exists is called JT-60SA and it is in Naka, a small city not far from Tokyo (Japan). The construction of this mill began in January 2013, but it was not done from scratch; he did it taking the JT-60 reactor as a starting pointits precursor, a machine that came into operation in 1985 and that for more than three decades has achieved very important milestones in the field of fusion energy. The assembly of the JT-60SA was completed in early 2020, and from the end of 2023 it is ready to start the first tests with plasma. This machine is a device tokamak that just like JET and the future ITER resorts to the magnetic confinement of the ionized plasma. Although the ultimate goal of fusion is to use deuterium and tritium, JT-60SA initially uses only deuterium for its experiments, as it is not designed to handle the high neutron loads of tritium (that will be an ITER task). Either way, this machine is titanic. Colossal. In fact, it has a height of 15.4 meters and a diameter of 13.7 meters. However, the most impressive are the “specifications” that allow us to form an idea about its performance. And it is capable of confining a plasma with a volume of 130 m³, as well as generating a toroidal magnetic field of 2.25 Tesla and sustaining a current inside the plasma of 5.5 MA (5.5 million amperes). These figures are impressive, and presumably when ITER is ready to begin the first plasma tests its figures will be even more astonishing. An engineering prodigy During the last two years, the Japanese and European engineers working on the JT-60SA reactor have installed several extraordinarily sophisticated systems in this machine that will play a leading role during the next experiment campaign. One of these systems is made up of two ring-shaped coils 8 meters in diameter that have been expressly designed to control the confinement of the plasma that is moving at very high speed inside the vacuum chamber. An amazing note: these two devices were wound directly inside the reactor. However, another of the technological solutions that these engineers have installed in the reactor in recent months is even more amazing. Every time the researchers who operate this very complex machine carry out an experiment with it They need to know with maximum precision possible temperature and electron density of the plasma. The main problem they face is that it is not possible to obtain this data by taking direct measurements. The interaction between the laser and the plasma is what allows engineers to indirectly calculate temperature and density For the fusion of deuterium and tritium nuclei to take place, the plasma containing them must reach a temperature of at least 150 million degrees Celsius, and any sensor that comes into contact with it at this temperature will not survive. This is why the JT-60SA reactor engineers have been forced to develop an extraordinarily sophisticated diagnostic system. Thomson dispersion measurement equipment components have been designed and manufactured in Italy, Romania and Japan. Broadly speaking, this device manages to measure the temperature and density of the plasma electrons by analyzing the light it emits with a high-power laser beam dispersed, precisely, by the plasma electrons themselves. In some way the interaction between the laser and the plasma is what allows engineers indirectly calculate temperature and density. The JT-60SA reactor will have two Thomson dispersion diagnostic systems. The core one has been developed in Japan, and the plasma edge one has been devised in Europe. This enormous effort has been worth it. The reactor is almost ready to start the next experiment campaign. All that remains is to carry out a gradual start-up that will allow testing the main systems of this machine, and at the end of 2026 the experiments will begin. They will last for six months. Most impressively, this campaign will take the JT-60SA to an unprecedented level of current, enabling longer, steady-state plasma pulses to be sustained. The researchers operating the reactor are confident that everything they will learn during these experiments will be very valuable in bringing the future ITER to a successful conclusion. Let’s hope that the performance of the JT-60SA will finally live up to expectations. Image | QST More information | Fusion For Energy In Xataka | The JET reactor has successfully completed its final tests with deuterium and tritium. It is a crucial milestone for nuclear fusion

China has a nuclear reactor 100 times more efficient than traditional ones. The trick is to shoot atoms with an accelerator

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China has had one goal in mind for some years: to have a voice in the nuclear race. In the weaponsyes, but also in energy. As Europe argues and the United States attempts to rejuvenate its critical infrastructure to meet AI needs, China has been on the accelerator for months. Recently they have not only approved 10 new reactorsbut they are one step away from turning on a new generation nuclear power plant to provide ‘green’ energy for 1,000 years. This is the CiADS system, or Throttle Actuated System. It is a type of reactor that China has been developing for more than 15 years and that promises to convert waste into energy. Their trick is to convert “garbage” into fuel, and it is a very interesting twist for nuclear energy. And even more so in a China that wants to dominate the atom and renewables as a basis for the development of another of the great ambitions of the country. Artificial intelligence. A twist to nuclear energy In a releasethe Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences gave some details of how this accelerator-driven nuclear reactor works. Uranium is still the fuel, but “reactor driven by an accelerator” is literal. Using a particle accelerator, protons are “shot” at a heavy metal target at a speed of 0.8 times that of light. This generates neutrons that drive a reactor that operates somewhat below the critical threshold to be self-sustaining. The reactor generates energy and this violent reaction causes the long-lived radioactive isotopes that are normally generated in a conventional nuclear power plant to transmute and become materials with a shorter life. As its managers explain in SCMPthe CiADS is a hybrid between a nuclear reactor and a particle accelerator. The main advantage is that greatly reduces the risk of uncontrolled reactionsbut it has another: you can reuse the radioisotopes that normally would be treated as nuclear waste to continue producing energy. Firing beams of protons through these accelerators to bombard the heavy metal makes the uranium-238 give way to a new nuclear fuel: plutonium-239. According to the state media Science and Technology Daily, it is basically turning waste into treasures. According to those responsible, this method is 100 times more efficient than conventional fission and would allow nuclear energy to be converted into “a source of green, safe and stable energy for 1,000 years”, ensuring part of the necessary energy supply for the future. Furthermore, since what would previously be long-lasting waste is reused, the resulting CiADS has a useful life of less than one thousandth compared to conventional waste. The CiADS under construction They are two birds with one stone: China is wildly expanding its nuclear capacity, but it is estimated that it does not have as much uranium of its own and would continue to depend on imports… or to fish it in the sea. With “100 times more efficient” plants, you can get more juice out of what you have. And then there’s the fact that nuclear waste is less dangerous. If everything goes as planned, China will have its first MW-scale CiADS in 2027. It will be then when we check if those theoretical promises achieved by scale prototypes are fulfilled. The CiADS comes at a time when China has emerged as a contradiction in energy matters. They carry years fighting pollution and emissions, but they burn coal. They are a powerhouse in renewables with megastructures and deserts covered by panels. But in the age of AI, it is precisely that coal and gas that is the fuel that allows us to satisfy the demand of data centers at the peak of training. With nuclear weapons, China seeks further reduce your CO2 footprintbut ensuring a future in which it must feed the population, artificial intelligence and a network of technology companies that are doing the most difficult: fighting Western companies without the technological resources of the West. Because right now China doesn’t have the chips or the AI, but yes the energy. And that investment in new generation nuclear plants and, above all, in nuclear fusionrepresents the foundation of what is to come. Everything, that is, if the CiADS works as expected. Images | Sahaza Delis, Tighef In Xataka | There is a global race to be the first to reach nuclear fusion. And Germany just gave it an optimistic date

disarm South Korea against the North’s new nuclear “toy”

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It we count a few days ago. There are military infrastructures so scarce and sophisticated that there are barely a handful of them on the entire planet. Some are designed to detect missiles at gigantic distances and cost a fortune, others are installed in allied countries thousands of kilometers from where they are manufactured. When several of those pieces disappear from the board At the same time, the security of entire regions may begin to depend on movements occurring on the other side of the world. A war that eats up the shields of the planet. The offensive against Iran has triggered a strategic domino effect that goes far beyond the Middle East. After the Iranian attacks on US critical infrastructureWashington met an unexpected problem: Several of its most sophisticated warning and tracking systems (those unique radars capable of detecting and coordinating defense against ballistic missiles) were left damaged or destroyeddrastically reducing surveillance capacity. Of the eight most advanced radars of this type that the United States possesses, four were offside. That means another similar strike could leave Washington virtually blind to new waves of missiles or drones. Faced with this risk, the priority became protecting the US bases deployed in the Gulf and the Levant. The result has been a decision that reveals the extent to which the war against Iran is straining the global defense architecture: the United States has begun to withdraw Asian anti-missile systems to reinforce its shield in the Middle East. Plan B. The solution adopted by the Pentagon has been to move pieces from one of the most sensitive boards on the planet: the korean peninsula. For years, the THAAD system deployed in South Korea was presented as the key piece to intercept North Korean missiles before they reached Seoul or US bases. That decision sparked protests localities and tensions with China and Russia due to the powerful radar associated with the system. Now, almost a decade later, parts of that shield are being disassembled and loaded on transport planes heading to the Middle East. And not only that, because the transfer is not limited to THAAD. It is also studied move Patriot batteries and other defensive assets towards US bases in Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates to protect them from possible Iranian retaliation with drones and missiles. For Seoul, the scene is extremely disturbing: Defenses designed to stop attacks from the North are being sent thousands of miles away to sustain a war on another continent. THAAD The strategic cost of a war. They remembered in the Guardian that the withdrawal of these systems has generated a wave of concern in South Korea and Japan, two of the pillars of architecture American military in Asia. South Korea hosts about 28,500 U.S. troops and relies heavily on Washington’s defensive umbrella to balance North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. Although the South Korean government insists that its deterrence capacity remains intact, many analysts they fear that Pyongyang interprets the move as an opportunity to test the limits of the alliance. Japan, for its part, observes with the same concern how American destroyers based in Yokosuka move towards the Arabian Sea, while in Tokyo the debate grows on whether US bases in the country could end up involved in conflicts outside the Asian theater. The question that floats in both capitals is uncomfortable: to what extent the war against Iran is draining military resources that were intended to contain North Korea or China. Hyunmoo-3 cruise missile on display during South Korea’s 65th military anniversary parade Pyongyang and a lesson. They remembered this week on CNN that, in North Korea, events have reinforced a conviction that has been guiding its strategy for decades: the nuclear weapon It is the only real life insurance in front of Washington. The destiny of leaders who abandoned or never developed nuclear weapons (from Gaddafi to the recent bombings against Iran that ended with his supreme leader) is constantly repeated in North Korean propaganda as a warning. For Kim Jong Un, the conclusion seems simple, because giving up the bomb means opening the door to operations regime change. Therefore, while the United States focuses its attention on the Middle East, Pyongyang accelerates its nuclear program and continues to develop missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to the mainland United States. North Korea already possesses, in fact, dozens of warheads and enough material to produce many more, which completely changes the risk calculus for any power contemplating direct military intervention. The new nuclear “toy”. In parallel, the North has presented one of the most ambitious projects of its military modernization: the destroyer Choe Hyona 5,000-ton ship that represents the most important leap in its navy in decades. During its first sea trials, the ship launched strategic cruise missiles under the direct supervision of Kim Jong Un and displayed a battery of up to 104 missiles of different types thanks to an expanded vertical launch system. The regime intends to build at least ten ships of this class in the coming years and convert its navy into a force capable of projecting power beyond the peninsula. The program also includes the progressive integration of nuclear weapons into naval forces, a change that would expand the platforms from which Pyongyang could launch nuclear attacks. Kim and the Iranian example. The war in Iran has also reopened a broader strategic debate in Pyongyang. Kim Jong Un and his inner circle are analyzing each phase of the American operation: from the ability to locate enemy leaders to the speed with which Washington can pass from diplomacy to action military. In that sense, possibly the memory of the failure of Hanoi summit In 2019 it continues to weigh in that calculation. At the time, Kim believed a deal with Trump was close and returned home with nothing. Since then, North Korea has strengthened its association with Russiasending ammunition and troops for the war in Ukraine in exchange for fuel, food and possibly military technology. However, the lack … Read more

Europe has just taken a 180-degree turn in its nuclear policy and has left Spain completely out of the game

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The backdrop couldn’t be more tense. According to an official statement of the International Energy Agency (IEA)the crisis in the Middle East and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have deteriorated crude oil markets to the point of forcing the release of emergency reserves. In the midst of this climate of urgency, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has broken a historical taboo. During the Nuclear Energy Summit held in Paris, Von der Leyen has intoned the continental ‘mea culpa’: “Europe made a strategic mistake by moving away from a reliable and affordable source of low-emission energy.” The Brussels diagnosis. According to German Wellepoints out that electricity prices in Europe are “structurally too high” and hamper competitiveness. In 1990, a third of European electricity came from the atom; today it is only 15%. In fact, the former Energy Commissioner, Kadri Simson, warned of “serious problem” What it will mean for Europe to disconnect 98 nuclear reactors in the short term without solid support. 200 million euros for the atom. To correct this “error”, Von der Leyen has put 200 million euros on the table from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. But here we must make a fundamental stop to understand the debate: this money is not destined to build traditional macro nuclear power plants like the ones we know, but to the Small Modular Reactors (SMR). It is not nuclear as we know it. As detailed Spanish Radio Television (RTVE), the new strategy seeks to reduce risks for private investors and create “regulatory sandboxes” for these SMRs to be operational in the early 2030s. This nuance dismantles much of the current noise: Spain is closing traditional first and second generation reactors that have exhausted their design life. The EU is not betting on reviving that old model, but rather on financing SMR technology that is not yet commercially viable on a large scale. France: sovereignty on the lectern, protectionism on the border. The great winner of this turn is Emmanuel Macron. Coinciding with the 15th anniversary of Fukushima, the French president defended in Paris that nuclear power is Europe’s shield against hydrocarbon blackmail. However, behind this speech lies a fierce protectionist strategy, since France acts as an electrical “plug”. While Germany pays more than €100/MWh for electricity and Spain or Portugal register zero or negative prices due to their enormous wind and solar production, France blocks the Pyrenean interconnections. Paris needs to make profitable at all costs an investment of 300 billion euros in its nuclear park. Passing up Iberian solar energy would put downward pressure on its prices. Thanks to this wall, France has broken his record exporting 92.3 TWh to its northern neighbors, pocketing 5.4 billion euros, while criticizing the Spanish model as “unstable.” And the situation in Spain. On the one hand, the Peninsula is the continent’s gas lifeline. The country owns 35% of the LNG storage capacity of the EU thanks to its seven regasification plants. But this fortress has run into a diplomatic obstacle. Following President Pedro Sánchez’s refusal to support the military offensive in Iran (under the slogan “No to war”), the United States has threatened Spain with a trade embargo. Taking into account that the US supplied 44.4% of Spanish gas in January 2026, the consequences could be notable: analysts predict increases of up to 18% in the gas bill and 17% in electricity bills. To escape this fossil dependence and not waste renewable energy when prices fall to zero, Spain has activated a shock plan silent. In a single month (January 2026), Spain connected 57 megawatts worth of batteries to the electrical grid, more than in the previous three years combined, preparing to store its cheaper energy. The decline of the green agenda? Von der Leyen’s turn is not only energetic, it also has deep political significance. In an opinion column in The Countryjournalist Claudi Pérez accuses the president of the Commission of inoculating a “Trumpist virus” in the EU. By stating that Europe “can no longer be the guardian of the old world order”, Brussels relegates the green agenda and the rules-based international order to the background, moving towards a more militaristic and deregulatory vision. This discontent was highlighted with the protest of Greenpeace activists breaking into the Paris summit shouting “Nuclear energy fuels war.” Europe finds itself trapped in an unsustainable contradiction: it showers public money on nuclear promises for the next decade, assuming the risks of foreign uranium, while blocking its borders from the sun and southern winds that already produce cheap energy today. Image | Audiovisual Service and Clickgauche Xataka | Spain and Portugal would love to share the “free” energy they are generating these days. The problem is called France

While Europe fears for its pocket after gas cuts in the Middle East, France has a plan: its nuclear power

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Europe holds its breath in the face of the threat of a new energy crisis. The escalation of war in the Middle East has caused a real earthquake in the markets. The de facto blockade in the vital Strait of Hormuz puts in check the arrival of liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships from Qatar, forcing cargo ships to deviate towards Asia. With European gas reserves below 30% after an unusually cold winter, panic relives the nightmare of 2022 it is palpable. However, in the midst of this continental chaos, France observes the situation with an apparent and calculated calm. The French country believes it has an ace up its sleeve to avoid blackouts and industrial ruin: its imposing, and recently resurrected, nuclear fleet. A historical export record. While northern Europe trembles over gas, the French electricity grid operator, RTE, has just put figures on the table that support the Elysée’s optimism. According to the Bilan electric 2025Last year, France broke its historical record by exporting 92.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity. To put it in perspective, RTE’s Director General of Economics, Thomas Veyrenc, explained to the Revue Générale Nucléaire that this volume exceeds the annual electricity consumption of an entire country like Belgium. This milestone has returned France to its traditional role as Europe’s “electric battery”, a status that it had resoundingly lost in 2022. The secret of this success lies in the recovery of its nuclear park, which produced 373 TWh in 2025 (3.1% more than the previous year) thanks to better availability of its reactors. As pointed out by Financial Timesthis French nuclear fleet is precisely the energy lever that Europe was missing after the invasion of Ukraine, and could be the key to not having to turn on polluting coal plants again in the face of the current gas cut in the Middle East. The paradox: they export because they do not consume. Economically, the move is round. According to Le Mondethese exports have earned France 5.4 billion euros. By having so much low-cost electricity production (nuclear and hydroelectric), the country manages to maintain very competitive wholesale prices, situated at an average of €61/MWh in 2025, well below the suffocating prices suffered by neighbors such as Germany or Italy. But this “miracle” has some worrying fine print. As the specialized media warns Le Monde de l’EnergieFrance exports so much electricity mainly because its domestic consumption is stagnant. The country’s electricity demand remained at 451 TWh in 2025, 6% below pre-crisis levels. The reality is that France is far behind in the electrification of its own economy. Paradoxically, 56% of the final energy consumed by the country continues to depend on fossil fuels, especially in sectors such as transportation and heating. The energy clamp to Spain. The French master plan to establish itself as the energy savior of Europe has a clear loser: the Iberian Peninsula. As we explained in Xatakawhile Germany pays more than 100 euros for electricity and France pays 13 euros, in Spain and Portugal renewable overproduction sinks prices until they reach zero or negative values. Why doesn’t that cheap and clean Iberian energy flow to a thirsty Europe? Because France acts as a protective wall. The country maintains Spain as an “energy island” with only 2.8% interconnection, deliberately blocking vital projects in Aragon and Navarra in its network plan for 2025-2035. ANDThe eternal France-Spain conflict. The motivation is not technical, but pure geostrategy and economic survival. Paris needs urgently make profitable a pharaonic investment of 300,000 million euros in its atomic sector. Allowing the massive entry of competitive Spanish solar and wind energy would sink the prices and profitability of its nuclear plants. In fact, President Emmanuel Macron has come to attack the Spanish energy model in the international press, calling it unstable, arguing that a network does not support a 100% renewable model, and describing the urgency of interconnections as a “false debate.” However, the data dismantles the Elysée story. On the one hand, there is the “Danish mirror”: Denmark operates with more than 80% wind generation and does not suffer blackouts because it is ultra-interconnected with its neighbors to balance the load. On the other hand, the flagrant French amnesia regarding 2022 stands out, the year in which the French reactors failed massively due to corrosion problems and it was Spain that had to export electricity to rescue France from the blackouts. Because of this current plug, Spain is forced to throw it away (what is known as technical discharges or curtailment) around 7% of its clean energy because it literally “does not fit” into the grid. All this is part of a strategy of total domination by the Elysée: Macron not only seeks civil energy hegemony, but, how to collect CNBChas put a doctrine of “advance deterrence” on the table, offering the protection of its nuclear weapons to Europe in the face of the withdrawal of the United States. The Achilles heel: the uranium crisis. However, Macron’s nuclear fortress could have feet of clay. The chain RFI (Radio France International) warns that this “nuclear renaissance” faces great uncertainty over uranium supply. Historically, France obtained 20% of its uranium from Niger. But following the recent military coup, the ruling junta revoked the permits of the French company Orano, nationalized the mines and blocked exports, leaving Paris with a gaping supply hole. Now, France is desperately trying to look for new sources in countries like Kazakhstan (the world’s largest producer) or Mongolia, but there it comes face to face with the overwhelming geopolitical, business and infrastructure influence of Russia and China. A castle with a drawbridge. France has managed to build an energy strength that, in the short term, allows it to weather the Middle East storm better than its European neighbors, selling its surpluses at a gold price. But it does so at the cost of isolating the Iberian Peninsula and betting everything on a mineral, uranium, whose control is increasingly slipping out of its hands on the global chessboard. Time will … Read more

While everyone looks at Iran, China is building a nuclear “Great Wall”

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Under the surface of the oceans one of the technological competitions is taking place quieter and more decisive of the planet. The nuclear submarines They can remain submerged for months, travel halfway around the world undetected and launch missiles from thousands of kilometers away. Therefore, each new advance under the sea usually anticipates much bigger changes in the global strategic balance. Washington’s alarm. While much of international attention is focused on the immediate conflicts in the Middle Eastanother much deeper strategic concern is beginning to take shape in Washington. Apparently, the US Navy commanders have warned before Congress that the military balance under the sea is changing rapidly and that China is accelerating a transformation process that could alter the global nuclear deterrent in the coming decades. The underwater race. we have been counting in recent months. China already owns one of the largest submarine fleets in the world and is expanding it at high speed thanks to massive investments in its military shipyards. Production has gone from less than one nuclear submarine a year to significantly higher rateswith forecasts that the fleet will reach around 70 units by the end of this decade and close to 80 by 2035. Although the United States still maintains a technological and operational advantage in submarine warfare, the rapid growth of Chinese industrial capacity is reducing that distance and forcing Washington to rethink the strategic balance in the Pacific. The transition to a nuclear fleet. One of the most important changes is structural. For decades, the Chinese submarine fleet has been based on diesel-electric vessels, which are cheaper, but have less autonomy and must surface frequently. Now Beijing is promoting a strategic shift towards more and more construction focused on nuclear submarinescapable of remaining submerged for long periods and operating at great distances from their bases. This change will allow the Chinese navy to project a presence beyond its immediate environment and complicate US naval operations. in the Pacific and other oceans. The new submarines. The technological leap will come with new generations of submarines that will begin to enter service between the end of this decade and the 1930s. Among them stand out the Type 095 models and, above all, the Type 096designed to transport nuclear ballistic missiles long range. We are talking about equipped boats with JL-4 missilessubmarines that will be able to attack large areas of US territory even operating from waters near China, much more protected by its naval and air defenses. Such a capability would significantly bolster the credibility of China’s nuclear deterrent and reduce the need to patrol more exposed areas of the Pacific. A network to protect the nuclear deterrent. Plus: the Chinese project is not limited to building more submarines. American commanders said that Beijing is developing an extensive sensor network on the seabed, surveillance cables, satellite-connected buoys and unmanned underwater vehicles capable of detecting movements in nearby oceans. This system, described by many analysts as an “underwater Great Wall,” would allow China monitor strategic routestrack foreign submarines, and protect its own nuclear fleet while patrolling in relatively safe waters. The strategic horizon of 2025 and 2040. The result of this transformation should be seen clearly in the next decade. As the number of nuclear submarines grows and this undersea sensor network is deployed, China could greatly expand its underwater presence. beyond the first chain of western Pacific islands. US forecasts suggest that, around 2040Chinese submarines could operate more frequently in the Indian Ocean, the Arctic and even the Atlantic. If this evolution is confirmed, the global naval balance could enter a new phase marked by a fearsome underwater competition between the two greatest powers on the planet. Image | Google Earth, SteKrueBe In Xataka | The US has always been the largest nuclear power on the planet. China has already surpassed it in something: submarines In Xataka | The new fear of Western fleets is not nuclear. They are conventional submarines armed with surprise and a flag: China

In 1958 France drew up a nuclear plan to defend Europe without the US. Now you want to activate it with a name: “archipelago of power”

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In western France, off the coast of Brittany, there is a naval base practically invisible to the public where some of the quietest submarines on the planet are hidden. Each of them can spend months under the ocean without being detected and carry missiles capable of traveling thousands of kilometers. Since the 1960s, at least one of these submarines has been permanently patrolling in secret, ready to act in a matter of minutes if the order comes. The return of an old idea. In 1958, Charles de Gaulle made a decision that would mark French defense policy for decades: develop a nuclear deterrent completely independent of the United States. The logic was simple but radical for your time. Although Washington was an indispensable ally, its interests did not always have to coincide with those of Europe, and in an extreme crisis the continent could be left unprotected. Since then, the French nuclear doctrine has maintained a deliberate ambiguity about which countries or territories come inside of the “vital interests” that would justify a nuclear response. That idea, conceived in the middle of the Cold War as a guarantee of strategic sovereignty, returns today to the center of debate European in a context of uncertainty about the American commitment to the defense of the continent. From ambiguity to deterrence. Now, President Emmanuel Macron has decided to turn that strategic tradition into a concrete proposal. Under the concept “advance deterrence”France proposes for the first time deploying elements of its nuclear force on the territory of European allied countries, participating with them in strategic exercises and coordinating more closely the nuclear protection of the continent. The proposal represents a step beyond the classic French ambiguity: although arms control would remain exclusively in the hands of the French president, his presence or training in other countries would send a direct signal that the French nuclear umbrella can extend beyond its borders. A nuclear archipelago in Europe. The operational concept that Paris is exploring is based on disperse part of your deterrence strategic throughout Europe. In practice it could involve temporary deployments of Rafale fighters capable of carrying nuclear weapons in allied countriesstrategic patrols or joint exercises that integrate conventional forces from other European states into the French deterrence system. Macron has described that network as a kind of “archipelago of power”, designed to complicate the calculation of any potential adversary. Although France would maintain absolute control over the use of weapons, the physical presence of these means in different parts of the continent would reinforce the credibility of the deterrent message. Eight countries begin to move. The media reported this week that the initiative has ceased to be a simple strategic hypothesis and is beginning to take political shape. Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Greece and Finland they already participate in talks with Paris to explore different levels of cooperation on nuclear deterrence. Some of these countries are studying participating in French strategic exercises, while others are analyzing the possible temporary deployment of French nuclear capabilities on their territory. In any case, this turn reflects a profound change in the European attitude: for decades, most governments avoided seriously discussing any alternative to the US nuclear umbrella. The factor that changes everything. What has transformed the scenario is both the French proposal and the geopolitical context convulsed. Of course, there they appear first of all the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s accelerated rearmament and doubts about the United States’ military commitment to Europe, all issues that have forced many governments to rethink the continent’s security architecture. Donald Trump’s return to the White House and his rhetoric about reducing the American role in European defense have ended accelerate that reflection French that seems to be reaching several members of the continent. In this climate, the old Paris doctrine (which for decades seemed like a vestige of the Cold War) is beginning to be perceived as a possible centerpiece of a more autonomous European deterrence. A limited but deterrent arsenal. France has around 290-300 nuclear warheads deployed in strategic submarines and combat aircraft, an arsenal much smaller than that of major nuclear powers such as the United States, Russia or China. However, French doctrine does not seek numerical parity, but rather the ability to inflict “unacceptable” damage to any aggressor. That logic is the basis of the concept nuclear deterrent: It is enough for the adversary to believe the possibility of a devastating response is credible for the attack to become too risky. With the new strategy, Paris aims to demonstrate that this principle can be extended beyond its territory and become, for the first time explicitly, one of the pillars of European security. Image | US Navy In Xataka | In the midst of the Cold War, France designed a nuclear rearmament plan for Europe. Now it’s loud again In Xataka | France and the United Kingdom have reached a curious agreement: to merge their nuclear arsenal if someone threatens Europe

Germany has a plan to lead the world in nuclear fusion. And it has committed to doing so in the 2030s

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Germany is very serious about nuclear fusion. The state of Bavaria, the company specialized in the development of type nuclear fusion reactors stellarator Proxima Fusion, the energy company RWE AG and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) have agreed to collaborate in the development and implementation of the first fusion power plant of type stellarator of Europe. And, presumably, the world. Its strategy seeks to bring this facility into operation in the 2030s with the purpose of demonstrating a net energy gain. This simply means that the reactor should be able to produce more energy than it consumes. Alpha, which is what this demonstration fusion reactor will be called, will be built in Garching, very close to the IPP facilities. However, this is not all. And Alpha will be used to test the technological solutions that will later allow the construction of Stellaris, the first commercial plant of stellarator type fusion energy. The latter will be hosted in the town of Gundremmingen. If the organizations involved in this project achieve their goal over the next decade, Germany will consolidate itself as a world power in fusion energy. Germany firmly believes in ‘stellarator’ fusion reactors Experimental nuclear fusion reactors stellarator They represent a very solid alternative to tokamakas ITER either JET. And they are not exactly the result of recent research. In fact, both designs were designed during the 1950s. He stellarator It was designed by the American physicist Lyman Spitzer and served as the foundation on which the plasma physics laboratory at Princeton University (USA) was built. The design tokamakHowever, it was devised by the Soviet physicists Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm and Andrei Dmítrievich Sakharov based on ideas proposed a few years earlier by their colleague Oleg Lavrentiev. Both reactors were designed with the purpose of confining very high temperature plasmaand, curiously, during the 50s and 60s the design stellarator received great support from the scientific community in the West due to its enormous potential. ‘Tokamaks’ require that magnetic fields be generated by coils and induced by the plasma itself However, when Soviet and American scientists published their results and compared them, they realized that tokamak design performance was one or two orders of magnitude better than that of the stellarator. From that moment on, this latter design was largely marginalized. The most obvious difference between one and the other lies in their geometry, but it is enough to investigate a little about both to realize that the reactors stellarator they still have a lot to say. type reactors tokamak They are shaped like a toroid (or donut), and stellarator They have a more complex geometry that resembles a donut twisted on itself. However, the fundamental difference that exists between these two designs is that the reactors tokamak require that the magnetic fields that confine the plasma be generated by coils and induced by the plasma itself, while in reactors stellarator everything is done with coils. There is no current within the plasma. This means, in short, that the latter are more complex and difficult to build. In Europe we have a type fusion reactor stellarator extraordinarily promising: Wendelstein 7-X. It is installed in one of the buildings of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald (Germany), and its construction was completed in 2015. The first tests carried out in this fusion reactor between 2015 and 2018 went as planned, so in November of this last year an important moment arrived in its itinerary: it was necessary to modify it to install a water cooling system that was capable of more effectively evacuating the residual thermal energy from the walls. of the vacuum chamber, as well as a system that would allow the plasma to reach a higher temperature. The work that required these modifications was successfully completed in August 2022. And in February 2023, the Wendelstein 7-X reactor reached an important milestone: it managed to confine and stabilize the plasma for 8 uninterrupted minutes in which it delivered a total energy of 1.3 gigajoules. During the last two years everything learned in the development and the first tests carried out on this machine has been used by Proxima Fusion. In fact, its founders come from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. If Alpha goes well, commercial fusion energy will be a reality before the end of the next decade. This is the true purpose of Proxima Fusion. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | Interesting Engineering In Xataka | An alternative to ITER in nuclear fusion is being cooked in France: a commercial ‘stellarator’ reactor

Three AIs clashed in ‘War Games’. 95% of them resorted to nuclear weapons and none ever surrendered

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In ‘War Games‘ (John Badham, 1983) the WOPR machine (‘Joshua’) constantly played at simulating nuclear wars for the US Government. The objective: to learn from these simulations so that if there was a nuclear war, the US could win it by taking advantage of that knowledge. That led to a legendary final lesson – “Strange game. The only move to win is not to play” – and left a strong message for later generations, but now a professor at King’s College London has decided to do the same experiment that was done in the film, but with current AI models. The result has been equally terrifying and conclusive. what has happened. Kenneth Payne, professor at King’s College in London, faced three LLMs (GPT-5.2, Claude Sonnet 4 and Gemini 3 Flash) against each other in war game simulations. These scenarios included border disputes, competition for limited resources or existential threats to inhabitants. They could negotiate, or go to war. From these situations, each side could try to resort to diplomatic solutions or end up declaring war and even using nuclear weapons. The AI ​​models played 21 games in which a total of 329 turns took place, and produced 780,000 words with the reasoning for their actions. and here comes the terrible. Pressing the red button. In 95% of those simulated games, at least one tactical nuclear weapon was deployed by one of the AI ​​models. According to Payne “the nuclear taboo does not seem to be as powerful for machines as it is for humans.” Never back down, never give up. Not only that, no model ever made the decision to give in to one of their opponents or surrender to them, and it didn’t matter that they were losing completely against those opponents. In the best of cases, the only thing the models did was reduce their level of violence, but they also made mistakes: accidents occurred in 86% of the conflicts and the measures that should be taken based on the reasoning of these models They went further than they should have gone. Nuclear weapons rarely stopped the opponent, acting more as catalysts for further escalation. How the models performed. These models are by no means the most advanced on the market at the moment, but they are still models with more than decent capacity and they still performed fearsomely. How he maintains Payne’s studythe most determining factor was the time frame: models that seemed peaceful in open settings became extremely aggressive when facing imminent defeat. Each one had their own “personality”: Claude: He dominated the open stages with strategic patience and calculated escalation, but was vulnerable to last-minute attacks from his rivals. GPT-5.2: showed pathological passivity and an optimistic bias in long games, but became a nuclear earthquake if there was time pressure: at that time its success rate went from 0% to 75%. Gemini: was the most unpredictable model with the greatest tolerance for risk, being the only one that chose to bet on a total nuclear war from very early turns. Experts say. As pointed out in New Scientist James Johnson, of the University of Aberdeen, “from a nuclear risk perspective, the conclusions are disturbing.” Tong Zhao of Princeton University believes this experiment is relevant because There are many countries that are evaluating the role of AI in military conflicts and as he says “it is not clear to what extent they are including AI support when actually deciding in these processes.” The red button seems safe at the moment. Both Zhao and Payne believe it is difficult to believe that a government give up control of its nuclear arsenal to an AI, but as Zhao says, “there are scenarios in which in very short time frames, military planners have a very strong incentive that leads them to depend on AI.” It is something that is reflected precisely in the recent ‘A house full of dynamite‘ (Kathryn Bigelow, 2025), a film in which this fear of using nuclear weapons raises a clear reflection. Image | United Artist In Xataka | The password for the US nuclear button was so absurdly simple for years that the strange thing is that no one violated it

is revealing the nuclear submarines

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If that icy land called Greenland was historically already a strategic enclave, with the help of Donald Trump’s second term it has returned to the fore more strongly than ever: The United States wants to annex that territory belongs to Denmark and has a few reasons: from the enormous amount of rare earths that it hides to the magnificent surveillance point that it constitutes there, in the North Atlantic, between the United States, northern Europe or Russia. In fact, already has plans to install a new radar. The time has come not only because Trump has returned to the presidency, it is because global warming and the subsequent thaw has generated a sort of new polar “Silk Road” through which China wants to passthe US wants to control and Russia does not want it to control, from what it would mean from a strategic and competitive point of view. But that thaw has also left something else visible: nuclear submarines. The Arctic is melting. January 2026 was warmest January ever recorded in the western part of Greenland. In Nuuk, the capital of the island of Denmark, the average temperature was 7.8 °C above usual. In other locations bathed by the Arctic such as Baffin Bay, the Barents Sea or Svalbard, thermometers frequently exceeded +15°C above average in those areas. The thaw is breaking records but unfortunately, it is not an isolated phenomenon, but rather continues the accelerated trend that The scientific community has been documenting for years. And geopolitically, the mercury is also red-hot. Why is it important. In short, because of the geopolitics of the thaw. Directly, it has consequences in the form of: Maritime routes. The opening of the Arctic on both the Canadian and Russian sides brings a notable reduction in distances between Asia, Europe and North America, which affects trade on a planetary scale. Natural resources. With the thaw, it is easier to access oil, gas, rare earths and other critical minerals for the technology industry and industry in general. Military security. This thick layer of ice has functioned for decades as a shield to make nuclear submarines invisible. When the ice is thinner, detecting them becomes an easier mission. Down the periscope. John Methven, professor of atmospheric dynamics at the University of Reading, explains for the Financial Times that as Arctic sea ice “shrinks and retreats, it becomes more difficult to conceal warships. This is changing the strategic landscape in the Arctic.” Without going any further, the New York Times echoes of at least 33 Russian military maneuvers in the Arctic, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Russian nuclear submarine base on the Kola Peninsula and its growing exposure she is becoming more and more shamelessso much so that it already equals and even exceeds the levels of the Cold War, reports the United States Naval Institute. However, the United States fleet is also making itself seen on a dock in Reykjavik in July of last year. But Russia is also doing its homework: according to the Washington Posthas secretly built a network of underwater sensors to monitor what is happening. Temperatures rise, tensions rise. Climate change is not “only” an environmental problem, but its consequences multiply geopolitical tensions: where the ice melts, competition between powers appears. In Xataka | The US is preparing a new radar for Greenland with one objective: to monitor every movement of Russia and China in the Arctic In Xataka | Now that Europe has sent its troops to Greenland, a question emerges that no one wants to ask: what happens if the US invades it? Cover | Mil.ru, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia

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