Aggregator
Zayn Malik punched Louis Tomlinson in the face during vicious fight on set of Netflix docuseries: report
The Karl-Anthony Towns dilemma undersized Hawks are staring down in Knicks series
Ruby Rose sheds more light on night of alleged Katy Perry sexual assault in resurfaced essay
Ruby Rose sheds more light on night of alleged Katy Perry sexual assault in resurfaced essay
Saniyah Hall will give USC women’s basketball trio of superstars
Trump Turns The Screws On Israel In Biggest Pressure Move To Reign In Bibi Yet
The Lebanon ceasefire appears to be legitimate and holding, and the biggest evidence of this is that Lebanese citizens themselves are pouring back into the war-ravaged south of the country, seeking to recover to their homes which are in some cases 'unlivable'.
"Thousands of families displaced by weeks of fighting filled the main highway to southern Lebanon on Friday in hopes of returning to their homes, as a 10-day cease-fire in Israel’s military campaign against Hezbollah went into effect," writes NY Times on Friday.
via ReutersThis comes after the Rubio-mediated meeting between the Israel and Lebanon governments in Washington D.C. this week, which was a first in decades. However, Hezbollah was not represented and has rejected direct talks with Israel.
The situation and uneasy truce, which has for now seen Israel halt its bombing campaign over Lebanon (though dozens of airstrikes were reported in the south just on Thursday) - has been subject of some confusion and contradictory messaging.
First, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had declared that the fight with Hezbollah is not over, while at the same time confirming Israel's agreement with the 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon.
"One hand holds a weapon; the other is extended for peace," Netanyahu said in a fresh speech. "I will say honestly, we have not yet finished the job," he continued. "There are things we plan to do regarding the remaining rocket threat and the drone threat, which I will not detail."
Israel seeks to "dismantle" Hezbollah, Netanyahu continued, "but this will not be achieved tomorrow. It requires sustained effort, patience, and careful navigation in the diplomatic arena."
President Trump meanwhile in a Friday morning Truth Social message said Israel has been "PROHIBITED" from attacking Israel by the US.
But Trump at the same time contradicted Tehran's stance: "This deal is in no way subject to Lebanon, either, but the USA will, separately, work with Lebanon, and deal with the Hezbollah situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer," he wrote.
BREAKING: President Trump says Israel 'prohibited' by US from bombing Lebanon pic.twitter.com/wpuhtPxNV4
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) April 17, 2026Crucially, he added of the Israeli military: "They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the USA. Enough is enough." The NY Times says this has put Netanyahu in a tough spot:
Now, the prime minister’s critics, and even some of his allies on the right, have seized on what appears plain as day: his inability to resist Mr. Trump’s pressure, not just in pushing to bring the long-distance war with Iran to a close but even in demanding a truce with an enemy directly across Israel’s northern border.
“A cease-fire must come from a position of strength and be an Israeli decision, reflecting leverage that serves negotiations,” said Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff whose new centrist opposition party, Yashar, is gaining in the polls. “A pattern is emerging in which cease-fires are being imposed on us — in Gaza, in Iran and now in Lebanon.”
This actually constitutes some of the toughest talk and restrictions ever imposed on Israel from this administration. This suggests the White House is indeed serious about cobbling together a final offramp.
* * * Top Sellers at ZeroHedge Store (week of 4/13)
IQ Ultimate Omega 3 - 5:1 DHA to EPA Ratio For Brain & Eye Health
GMO-Free Heirloom Seed Vault - 39 Varieties - 4,500 Seeds
IQ Brain Rescue - Daily basic for ongoing brain support
Tyler Durden Fri, 04/17/2026 - 19:40Elon Musk’s proposal of ‘universal high income’ to combat AI job losses baffles economists: ‘So wrong on this’
Memorial grows outside family home of Celeste Rivas after D4vd’s arrest for her murder
First cruise ship sets sail through Strait of Hormuz after weeks-long closure by Iranian regime
The ‘Brady Bunch’ house is opening for tours, here’s when you can step inside
Mamdani wants to ‘eat the rich’? Then who will be left to feed the city’s ginormous budget?
Breaking down Knicks-Hawks matchups ahead of their first-round playoff series
Is America On The Verge Of A Nuclear Renaissance?
Authored by Duggan Flanakin via WattsUpWithThat.com,
It has been more than seven years since President Donald Trump signed the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) into law – and it has taken all seven years (including four during the Biden Administration) for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to issue a final rule implementing its provisions.
Even the Washington Post admits that the new Part 53 rules, intended to reduce review times from decades to 18 months or less, will make President Trump’s goal of revitalizing the U.S. nuclear energy industry more competitive – “to everyone’s benefit,” says the Post.
The old NRC permitting review process was built around light-water-cooled reactors (like the Westinghouse AP1000) and included prescriptive safety requirements specific to those designs – not the advanced reactors of all sizes being planned and built today.
Many nuclear companies are designing reactors that use liquid metals (like molten salt) or gases as coolants, enabling them to operate at higher temperatures. These reactors are ultimately safer than the (still very safe) water-cooled reactors, as they rely on natural forces like gravity or convection rather than pumps and motors to automatically stop the reactor in case of an incident.
The NRC says its final rule responds to NEIMA by creating an alternative, technology-inclusive regulatory framework that can accommodate licensing of future commercial nuclear plants, including advanced reactor designs that may not employ light-water technology. The new rules will hopefully expedite permitting of small modular reactors, microreactors, and even full-size reactors already under development.
The NRC says its alternative requirements and implementing guidance incorporate technology-inclusive approaches and risk-informed and performance-based techniques to ensure an equivalent level of safety to that of operating commercial nuclear plants. Part 53 is designed to provide optionality and flexibility for licensing and regulating a variety of technologies and designs for commercial nuclear reactors.
Not everyone is convinced that an agency with a lifelong track record of thwarting nuclear reactor permits has fully reformed. Noting that the real timeframe for the Part 53 rules is decades (not just 7 years), nuclear energy advocate Steven Curtis says “It’s hard to imagine the NRC being objective enough to lessen the burden for licensing, even for safer SMRs. The NRC sees its mortality in simplifying their process, so what is their incentive?”
NANO Nuclear Energy CEO James Walker calls the new Part 53 rules “a bridge to fleet deployment,” in that it does not fully eliminate site-specific licensing, environmental review installation review, or lifecycle issues around refurbishment, refueling, decommissioning, and relocation,” all needed for the microreactor industry. The NRC is reportedly developing guidance and another round of rulemaking – suggesting that Part 53 is foundational, not final.
The proof of a reformed NRC, if indeed it is now eager to move permits forward, will soon be made evident. Previous Presidents waited in vain. Trump waited 7 years for Part 53 regulations; the real microreactor rules have yet to be formally proposed.
More evidence that the Trump Administration is serious about a nuclear energy revival comes from the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC), which announced last week that its Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed is now complete. This first-of-its-kind facility, located at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), will enable the rapid development, testing, and demonstration of privately developed advanced nuclear reactors.
The Department of Energy says DOME is an actual 100-foot-tall dome that is 80 feet in diameter – large enough to provide a safe environment to test experimental reactor concepts and gather performance data for use in informing future commercial licensing applications. Its completion dovetails with the new Part 53 NRC rules – as the U.S. seeks to accelerate the development and demonstration of advanced nuclear technologies.
Built from the repurposed Experimental Breeder Reactor-II containment structure, DOME will help reactor developers accelerate testing timelines – saving money and reducing project risk – and hopefully deployment timelines.
These microreactors are designed to be factory-built and portable, able to be placed in remote communities or to respond to natural disasters but perhaps primarily to serve independent microgrids (such as data centers), field-level military operations, and even space travel.
DOME is the only test bed in the world specifically designed to host fueled microreactor experiments that can generate up to 20 megawatts of thermal energy that can be used as heat or converted to electric power. [This is comparable in size to the reactors that have powered America’s nuclear submarines ever since the USS Nautilus was deployed in 1954.]
DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactors Dr. Rian Bahran says the DOME is a vital component of reestablishing U.S. leadership in advance nuclear technologies – yet one wonders how many decades ago such a facility could have been built. Nuclear submarines can operate for 20 to 30 years without refueling, whereas conventional subs need refueling several times a year.
Better late than never – the DOME has already started a scheduled year-long test of Radiant Industries’ Kaleidos Demonstration Unit, a microreactor that uses TRISO fuel and is cooled by helium to produce 1 MW of electrical power or 3.5 MWt of thermal power. The U.S. Air Force is but one entity awaiting authorization for deploying Kaleidos. Other companies are queuing up to test their designs in DOME.
With the DOE envisioning nuclear megacities for such activities as uranium enrichment and fuel fabrication, at least four states have announced their willingness to serve as hosts even if managing high-level nuclear waste is part of the commitment.
Idaho and Tennessee have long-term experience in nuclear energy, while Utah and Nebraska are looking at the jobs and revenues to be gleaned from joining the nuclear community.
By contrast, Nevada has fought against managing nuclear waste and Texas and New Mexico have also objected to private interim nuclear waste storage (despite Texas’ push for nuclear energy development).
Meanwhile, the U.S. continues its ban on reusing nuclear waste to power reactors designed to burn (and thus dramatically reduce the volume of) nuclear waste by 95% and dramatically lower the cost of nuclear energy generation while virtually eliminating the controversial issue of nuclear waste storage.
Of course, a major increase in the number of nuclear powerplants in the U.S. will necessitate a major increase in the supply of nuclear fuel – and there is good news on that front as well. Newly launched FluxPoint Energy announced it is developing what would be the first new uranium conversion facility in the U.S. in 70 years.
FluxPoint says its mission is to “establish a fully American, vertically integrated nuclear fuel capability – supporting energy independence, enabling advanced reactor development, and strengthening national security.” Development of the facility, which will convert uranium oxide (U3O8) into gaseous uranium hexafluoride (UF6) that can be enriched in fissile uranium-235 for use as nuclear fuel, is “well under way.”
For that matter, these and other developments – and a reinvigorated nuclear energy industry – are signs that the U.S. is “well under way” to restoring its faith in a future and a renaissance already signified by the highly successful and warmly received Artemis II mission to the moon, another area of American excellence that was put into mothballs for decades.
Duggan Flanakin is a senior policy analyst at the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow who writes on a wide variety of public policy issues.
Tyler Durden Fri, 04/17/2026 - 19:15