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DTN 177: A US Startup Enriches Uranium

Plus: Lady Gaga launches biotech startup, NIST sells $400 jar of peanut butter, humanoids smash human records at the Robot Olympics, pizza robots are struggling, US seizes Chinese botnet, and more.

28 Aug 2026 — 7 min read

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Actinide becomes first startup to ever enrich uranium, producing HALEU

“Actinide, an advanced materials company that designs, builds, and operates its own isotope separation machines, has become the first startup in history to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). The enrichment was performed on the company's first-generation calutron, which, weeks earlier, was producing Actinide’s flagship commercial product: enriched ytterbium-176, delivered to Oklo Isotopes.

There is no end-to-end domestic supply chain for HALEU-based fuel: the Department of Energy says that most advanced reactor designs require HALEU, yet there is currently zero available from domestic suppliers. While conventional centrifuge enrichment is able to produce enriched uranium hexafluoride gas, this still must be converted into solid form before fuel fabrication - a process for which the United States has zero commercial capacity. The Department of Energy contracted six companies in 2024 to build out that deconversion capacity, but Actinide’s technology bypasses the bottleneck entirely by producing solid HALEU directly.” (via Actinide)

Two humanoid robots broke Usain Bolt’s record for the 100-meter dash last Saturday. One (shown here) ran the course in 9.47 seconds, and the other managed to do so in just 9.39 seconds. (Image: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

“The World Humanoid Robot Games is back for a second year, and the bots are just as unsettling and impressive as they are ridiculous and unwieldy. On the first day of the Games, two humanoid robots beat Usain Bolt’s world record for the 100-meter dash—before crashing into a padded wall. Still, this five-day extravaganza showcases how far and how rapidly humanoid robots have come in even the 12 months since last year’s Games.

The Games are taking place in Beijing and feature 51 events, including kickboxing, table tennis and soccer. Chinese companies produce the majority of humanoid robots, but machines representing 16 countries are participating in the Games this year, including Germany, Japan and the U.S.” (via Scientific American)