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Chris Wright lands in Caracas as Venezuela backs the oil deal
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright landed in Venezuela late on 1 September as the National Assembly backed the oil deal. Signing was set for the next day.
Politics correspondent
Sienna Brook
United States desk
Sienna Brook covers the United States desk, with 25 stories on Washington, energy policy and federal politics. Much of the beat is nuclear power and fuel, from Army microreactors to the NRC, along with the end of the LNG export pause and the Venezuela oil deal. Brook has also covered the White House press lawsuit and help for student loan borrowers in default.
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Venezuela oil deal: Pentagon takes a stake, State gets oil
Trump's Venezuela oil deal gives the Pentagon a 35% stake in the parent of operator NABEP, the White House says, plus access to 20% of its oil at cost.
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Trump says Venezuelan crude will refill the US oil reserve
President Trump says Venezuelan crude will refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which held about 290 million barrels on 21 August.
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Washington is telling the NRC to stop taking a decade
President Trump has ordered a US nuclear rebuild, from about 100 gigawatts toward 400 by 2050. The Energy Department put $2.7 billion into enrichment.
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Day one ended the LNG export pause
The Energy Department ended the Biden-era pause on LNG export applications on 20 January 2025. Commonwealth LNG got the first post-pause license.
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Carbondale opens $26m Southern Illinois Multimodal Station
Carbondale's $26 million Southern Illinois Multimodal Station opened on 28 August 2026, putting Amtrak, Greyhound, FlixBus and JAX under one roof.
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Oak Ridge starts the interior of America’s new fuel plant
TRISO-X has started interior work at its TX-1 nuclear fuel plant in Oak Ridge, which is designed to make 700,000 fuel pebbles a year.
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Janus reactors inside the fence go through ARRO, not the NRC
Janus microreactors will be licensed by the Army Reactor Office, not the NRC, on a defense-only path built to line up later commercial approvals.
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Army names five posts for commercial microreactors
Five Army posts from Bragg to Drum will host commercial microreactors, with vendors named and a 2028 clock.
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Army's Janus: up to $2.2 billion for more than 20 microreactors
The Army's Janus program has picked five companies to build and run microreactors at military posts, with up to $2.2 billion from fiscal 2027 to 2031.
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2026 Economic Report pushes faster nuclear and more LNG
The White House's 2026 Economic Report backs faster nuclear and more LNG. It says reactor approvals already take a year, down from over a decade.