Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The US Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy, via its Idaho Operations Office, issued Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0003538 on 15 December 2025, making USD 57 million available for the Fiscal Year 2026 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research (CINR) program. Individual awards range from a USD 3.1 million floor up to several million dollars, open to US universities, national laboratories, and US industry, with a companion FY2026 Phase II Continuation NOFO for previously-funded university teams. Research areas span continued operation of the existing US reactor fleet, deployment of advanced reactors, next-generation nuclear fuel cycles, and maintaining US nuclear-technology leadership.

On 6 November 2025, the US Department of the Interior (DOI) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) released the final 2025 List of Critical Minerals under the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. § 1606), expanding the designation from 50 to 60 minerals. The final list adds 10 newly designated commodities — boron, copper, lead, metallurgical coal, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon, silver, and uranium — based on updated supply-chain disruption modelling, public comment, and interagency recommendations. The list constitutes the foundational statutory anchor for downstream US critical-minerals policy instruments including DPA Title III awards, DOE LPO Title 17 loan eligibility, IRA Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit eligibility, Section 30D FEOC determinations, BIS export-control predicate assessments, Section 232 trade-investigation predicates, and CFIUS critical-technology triggers under 31 CFR § 800.215.

Namibia's Cabinet at its 22nd meeting on 23 September 2025 approved a Nuclear Industry Strategy mandating uranium value-addition (conversion and fuel fabrication objectives), pre-feasibility studies for Small Modular Reactors, radioisotope production, and industrial irradiation facilities. The strategy establishes the Nuclear Institute of Namibia (NIN) to drive implementation and coordinates with the IAEA on the 19 infrastructure milestones required for nuclear-power-developing countries. Cabinet simultaneously approved amendments to the Atomic Energy and Radiation Protection Act (Act No. 5 of 2005) to create an independent nuclear regulatory authority, a four-stage reactor-licensing framework, and Namibia's first statutory provisions for radioactive waste management; oversight transfers from the Ministry of Mines and Energy to the National Planning Commission (Office of the President).

The MoEFCC Impact Assessment Division issued an Office Memorandum on 8 September 2025 categorically exempting all mining projects involving atomic minerals (uranium, thorium and the 12 minerals under the Atomic Energy Act 1962), the 30 critical minerals notified by the Ministry of Mines on 28 June 2023, and separately designated strategic minerals from the mandatory public-consultation stage (para 7(i)) of the EIA Notification 2006, invoking the existing national-defence and strategic-considerations clause. Exempted projects will instead undergo comprehensive appraisal by the relevant Sectoral Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC/EAC) at the central level regardless of project size, bypassing the standard Category-A/B thresholding architecture. The measure was issued in response to formal requests from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), and directly accelerates the approval pipeline for the National Critical Mineral Mission (Rs 34,300 crore, 2025-2031).

On 8 August 2025, Ukraine's President signed Decree No. 595/2025, enacting an NSDC decision "On the Application of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures (Sanctions)" against Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and its international corporate network. Sanctions were applied to 18 individuals and 17 legal entities identified as involved in attempts to integrate the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant into Russia's grid, participation in the seizure of the Chornobyl NPP, production and servicing of dual-use nuclear equipment, and export of enriched uranium through Rosatom subsidiaries registered in Switzerland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, and Finland. Named entities include Uranium One Holding N.V. (Netherlands), Rosatom Finance Ltd (Cyprus), and JSC Kirov-Energomash (Russia).