🇺🇸🇱🇧🇮🇱Israel planted explosives in the pagers that exploded in Lebanon at the manufacturing stage, ABC News reported, citing sources.

This type of supply chain interdiction operation had been planned for at least 15 years, a US intelligence source confirmed.

"The attack planning involved front companies, with multiple layers of Israeli intelligence personnel and their assets, and at the forefront was a legitimate company that made pagers... At least some of the companies carried out the work without knowing who they were really working for," ABC reports.

The pagers were loaded with one to two ounces of explosives and a remote trigger to cause the explosion.

Although the pagers were formally manufactured by Hungarian BAC Consulting, they "were never produced in Hungary and the company was a reseller with no manufacturing or operational facility in Hungary."

🇺🇸☢️🏭 Small nuclear reactors could power the future — the challenge is building the first one in the U.S.

🔸 New nuclear plant designs, called small modular reactors, could speed deployment of carbon-free power in the future as electricity demand rises.

🔸 These small reactors would have simpler designs, making them easier and cheaper to build than current plants.

🔸 But the cost of building a first-of-its kind project has been a hurdle to commercializing the technology in the U.S.

🔸 Several power companies are looking at upgrading existing plants with these smaller reactors.

🔸 Only three SMRs are operational in the world, according to the Nuclear Energy Agency. Two are in China and Russia, the central geopolitical adversaries of the U.S. A test reactor is also operational in Japan.

🔸 Executives in the nuclear industry generally agree that small modular reactors won’t reach a commercial stage until the 2030s. An ambitious effort by NuScale to deploy SMRs at a site in Idaho was canceled last year, as the project’s price tag ballooned from $5 billion to $9 billion due to inflation and high interest rates.

🔗 https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/07/how-small-modular-reactors-could-expand-nuclear-power-in-the-us.html