The US Congress voted to approve a budget for fiscal year 2020 that includes $1.5bn for nuclear energy programmes, a 12.5% increase from the previous year.The budget includes $205m for work on advanced reactors as part of a new programme that was not part of last year’s budget. The budget also includes $305m for fuel cycle R&D, an increase from $264m for 2019.A new defence department micro nuclear reactor programme – also not art of the 2019 budget – will receive $70m. Micro-reactors, usually of 10MW or less, are under development in the US by companies like NuScale and Terrestrial Energy, and also by NASA for space exploration.