Powering the AI data center boom dominated the conversation in the global energy sector in 2025. Governments are racing to develop the most advanced AI models, and data center developers are building as fast as they can. But no one is going to get very far without finding ways to generate and move more electricity to these power guzzlers.
Spectrum’s most popular energy stories in 2025 centered around that theme. Readers were particularly interested in stories about next-generation nuclear power, such as small modular reactors and salt-cooled reactors, and how those technologies might support data centers. Readers also turned to Spectrum to learn about the strain all of this is putting on electricity grids, and new technologies to solve those problems.
Despite the weightiness of the energy sector’s challenges, we found some fun, off-beat stories to tell too. One American company is building the world’s largest airplane—it’s bigger than a football field—and it will have one job: to transport wind turbine blades.
I don’t know what 2026 will bring, but as Spectrum’s energy editor, I’ll do my best to provide you stories that are true, useful, and engaging. Cheers to a new year in energy!
GE Vernova
The world suddenly needs more power, but one solution being tested is to downsize energy generation and distribute it more widely. One example of that is small modular reactors (SMRs). These nuclear fission reactors are less than a third of the size and power output of conventional reactors. And as the April deadline approached for applying for the US $900 million the United States was offering for SMR development, readers came to Spectrum in droves to learn about the program in a news article authored by contributor Shannon Cuthrell.
But the SMR money paled in comparison to the $80 billion that the United States is spending on a fleet of large-scale nuclear reactors designed by Westinghouse. Will this next group of reactors suffer from the same delays and cost overruns as the ones that put Westinghouse into bankruptcy just a few years ago? Spectrum brought readers an expert analysis on the subject by Wood MacKenzie’s Ed Crooks.
Edmon de Haro
The United States may have the most SMRs in development, but China has the one that’s furthest along. The Linglong One, on the island of Hainan, is expected to begin operations in the first half of 2026. And that’s just one component in a smorgasbord of nuclear reactor experimentation in China. One of the country’s most interesting projects is a thorium-powered, molten-salt reactor, which it began building in 2025 in the Gobi desert. Prior to this project, the last operating molten-salt reactor was at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which shut down in 1969.
The attraction of thorium as a fuel is that it reduces dependence on uranium. Very little information is available on the progress of China’s thorium reactor, but with help from our Taiwan-based freelancer Yu-Tzu Chiu, we know it’s small—only 10 megawatts—and is scheduled to be operational by 2030. Check back with Spectrum for updates on this reactor and the Linglong One.
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