A U.S. Trident Ii, or D-5 missile, is test-fired, in this undated file photograph. AFP/Getty Images
The U.S. Department of Energy said on May 26 that it has chosen five companies to begin advanced talks on using surplus plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads as fuel for next-generation reactors.
In May 2025, President Donald Trump ordered a halt to much of a program diluting and disposing of surplus plutonium, requiring instead that it be provided as a fuel for advanced nuclear technologies.
