Miscellaneous

The United States has struggled with the disposal of spent nuclear fuel for decades. As AI data centers are popping up like mushrooms after a summer shower, the country’s electricity supply faces a massive projected shortage, and scaling up nuclear power production is a must. The lack of a nationwide system for reprocessing or disposing of spent nuclear fuel is a burden that slows the industry and hinders U.S. industrial development. It is a drag on America’s GDP growth.

As AI drives rising energy demand, the Trump Administration is exploring an unconventional energy source: surplus nuclear-weapons-grade plutonium from the Cold War. In May 2026, the Department of Energy, under its Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program, selected five companies—Oklo, Flibe Energy, Exodys Energy, SHINE Technologies, and Standard Nuclear— to examine whether the excess plutonium can be converted into fuel for advanced nuclear reactors. The initiative provides an opportunity for the country to turn what has long been regarded as a costly disposal challenge into a source of domestic energy. We know the physics works. The question is whether it can be made economically viable.

If the current Gulf War, marked by controversy over control of the Strait of Hormuz, does not end soon, the conflict may shift from attacks on the transport of oil by sea to disrupting vital potable water resources. Just before President Trump announced Thursday, June 11, that the ceasefire is to be signed imminently, the U.S. allegedly bombed water infrastructure in southern Iran. These attacks reportedly hit two reservoirs on SirikIsland, where a port and Iranian naval facilities are located. The Iranian state media claimed that this cut off the water supply to 20,000 residents. Whether this claim is credible is questionable, as the Islamic Republic’s media often dissimilates. However, if these waterworks were supplying Iran’s military infrastructure, they would be legitimate military targets.

Ukraine’s post-war economic story will not initially be written by startups or fintech. It will be written in fields, furnaces, mines, pipelines, and ports (and drone production).

As the world watches the next act in the U.S.-Iran drama with bated breath, the headlines write themselves: the worst oil disruption in history, a fifth of global supply at risk, and Brent crude close to $110. The International Energy Agency has warned that the ongoing Iran War represents an unprecedented supply shock. Yet before declaring this the ultimate energy crisis, it is worth asking a simple question: compared to what?

Canada’s first-ever Investment Summit is scheduled for mid-September. The aim is to attract global capital for “nation-building” projects across energy, infrastructure, and critical minerals, demonstrating Ottawa’s efforts to expand the country’s role as a global energy supplier.

Investors in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates who accumulated trillions from decades of oil sales have long been deploying sovereign wealth funds into Western assets. Their money has gone into technology, sports, infrastructure, real estate, and entertainment. That strategy was built on a simple premise: petrodollar revenues generated at home could be channeled abroad into stable, high-return sectors.

On April 4^th, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to make a deal or open up the Hormuz Strait. Time is running out…” Markets have been recoiling amid instability in the Middle East, and it does not appear that jittery investors will experience any relief in the near term. However, this is more than a short-term shock reaction. It signals a deeper shift.

In March 2026, Cuba experienced nationwide blackouts affecting the island’s population of over 10,000,000 and bringing routine economic activity and essential services to a screeching halt. In many media narratives, this state of affairs is laid at the feet of the U.S. energy embargo on the island, often in the context of American policy towards Latin America.

Following last month’s dramatic capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump Administration is now shifting into high gear to expand the footprint of Western companies in Venezuela’s oil sector. Through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a series of new Venezuela General Licenses (GLs) have been published, including GL 50, which authorizes companies, including BP, Chevron, Eni, Repsol, and Shell to begin oil production operations in Venezuela. These new authorizations come just after U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited some of the South American nation’s oil-producing facilities, accompanied by its Chavista acting president, Delcy Rodríguez.

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