Doubting U.S. resolve, Europe looks to bolster its own nuclear arsenal 

Dan De Luce and Keir Simmons | NBC News 

Questioning America’s decades-long commitment to guard them against a nuclear-armed Russia, European nations are looking at ways to bolster their own arsenals rather than continue to rely on the U.S., according to six senior European officials. European leaders are discussing whether to rely more on nuclear-armed France and Britain instead of the U.S. or even develop their own atomic weapons, three of the senior European officials said. The discussions have taken on a new urgency in recent weeks as President Donald Trump, who blasted European nations in a speech at Davos on Wednesday, demands the U.S. acquire Greenland, these officials said.  

What to know about Greenland's role in nuclear defense and Trump's 'Golden Dome' 

John Leicester | ABC News 

In a hypothetical nuclear war involving Russia, China and the United States, the island of Greenland would be in the middle of Armageddon. The strategic importance of the Arctic territory — under the flight paths that nuclear-armed missiles from China and Russia could take on their way to incinerating targets in the United States, and vice versa — is one of the reasons U.S. President Donald Trump has cited in his disruptive campaign to wrest control of Greenland from Denmark, alarming Greenlanders and longtime allies in Europe alike. ... “Trump’s argument that Greenland is vital for the Golden Dome — and therefore that it has to be invaded, well, acquired — is false for several reasons," says French nuclear defense specialist Etienne Marcuz. 

Trump’s AI deal for Silicon Valley: Build your own nuclear, skip years of regulation 

Eva Roytburg | Fortune  

President Donald Trump offered Silicon Valley an extraordinary deal on Wednesday: Build your own nuclear power plants to fuel AI, and his administration will approve them in just three weeks. Speaking at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Trump addressed a room of tech executives struggling with an aging U.S. electrical grid. ... The proposal marks a radical departure from the traditional Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) process, which historically requires four to five years for environmental and design approvals as well as rigorous site selection. Trump claimed that while tech leaders initially “didn’t believe him,” he assured them the government would deliver approvals for oil and gas plants in just two weeks, with nuclear projects following in three.  

North Korea Can Build 20 Nukes a Year, South Korea’s Lee Says  

Soo-hyang Choi | Bloomberg 

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said North Korea continues to produce nuclear material at a pace that could allow it to add up to 20 nuclear weapons a year, underscoring concerns that Pyongyang has no intention of slowing its nuclear program. “Eventually, the nuclear weapons system necessary to sustain the North Korean regime will evolve into weapons capable of threatening the entire world, including the US,” Lee told reporters at a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday. “Even right now, materials enough to produce 10 to 20 nuclear weapons a year are being produced.” ... “The US role is crucial,” Lee said. “President Trump is a unique figure, and that could help resolve the North Korea issue.”  

Europe struggles to end reliance on Russian uranium 

Ian Johnston, Camilla Hodgson, and Alice Hancock in Brussels | Financial Times 
Top nuclear fuel executives are pushing Europe to phase out Russian imports of enriched uranium, warning Moscow is using its role as a key supplier to exert geopolitical influence. Nearly four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe has reduced its dependence on Russian enriched uranium but the country still supplies almost a quarter of the continent’s needs, with the low price making it attractive to buyers. ... Without a plan to end imports, Europe risks relying on the fuel for decades to come, the heads of Orano and Urenco have warned, exposing the continent to a strategic dependency on Vladimir Putin’s Russia.  

Japan suspends world's largest nuclear plant hours after restart 

Hafsa Khalil | BBC 

Japan has suspended operations at the world's largest nuclear power plant, hours after its restart, its operator has said. An alarm sounded "during reactor-start-up procedures" at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa north-west of Tokyo but the reactor remained "stable", Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) spokesperson Takashi Kobayashi said. Reactor number six restarted on Wednesday a day later than planned due to an alarm malfunction - the first at the plant to be turned on since the 2011 Fukushima disaster.