The Department of the Air Force (DAF) has moved forward with its Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations (ANPI) initiative, announcing specific company pairings to develop microreactors at three installations.
Radiant Industries will partner with Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado. Radiant is developing Kaleidos, a portable 1 MW helium gas-cooled microreactor using TRISO fuel. Factory-built and transportable by truck or aircraft, the unit requires no on-site water, relying instead on air cooling with fans and passive natural convection. It targets military installations among other resilient power needs. Radiant plans its first demonstration at Idaho National Laboratory's DOME test bed, with criticality planned before July 4th.
Westinghouse will deploy at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. Westinghouse brings decades of nuclear expertise and its eVinci microreactor. This heat-pipe cooled design produces about 5 MW, offering eight-plus years of fuel life with minimal maintenance. Fully factory-assembled and transportable in shipping containers, the unit operates without water cooling and supports remote or edge-of-grid applications while pairing well with renewables.
Antares Nuclear will build at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas. Antares is focused on its R1 microreactor, a sodium heat-pipe cooled system delivering 100 kWe to 1 MWe with over six years between refueling. The modular design emphasizes reliability for defense-critical assets and incorporates high-temperature heat pipes and automated controls. We recently covered Antares and their first of a kind approval from the DOE for their Mark-0 test reactor at Idaho National Lab.
ANPI’s goal is operating at least one advanced nuclear reactor on a DAF installation by 2030 or sooner.
We reported on the ANPI program's launch and the Defense Innovation Unit's selection of eight companies in April 2025, part of a larger Pentagon push for resilient, emissions-free power at military sites. The effort aligns with the Army's related Janus program targeting operational microreactors by 2028.
The initiative remains separate from the standalone microreactor pilot at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. With next steps now underway, the DAF is positioning itself to deliver reliable power where it matters most.
Tether froze more than $344 million in USDT across two Tron addresses on Thursday, in coordination with the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), marking one of the stablecoin issuer's largest compliance actions on record.
While Tether did not name the network of the frozen funds, blockchain security firm PeckShield identified the blacklisted addresses as TNiq9...QZH81 and TTiDL...pjSr9, holding approximately $213 million and $131 million respectively.
The action comes weeks after the $285 million Drift Protocol exploit; an incident that put the entire stablecoin industry under public scrutiny and drove hard questions about issuer’s crisis responses. Tether addressed the incident by proposing a $127.5 million recovery contribution.
“USDT is not a safe haven for illicit activity,” said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, in a statement. “When credible links to sanctioned entities or criminal networks are identified, we act immediately and decisively. Recent events have shown what happens when platforms fail to move quickly, enforcement breaks down, users are exposed, and trust erodes.”
“Our approach is different,” he continued. “We combine blockchain transparency with real-time monitoring and direct coordination with law enforcement to stop funds before they can move. That’s a responsibility we take seriously as one of the largest issuers in the market.”
As Decrypt notes, the freeze underscores Tether's expanding compliance infrastructure, which now encompasses partnerships with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 65 countries. The stablecoin issuer said it has supported over 2,300 cases globally and frozen more than $4.4 billion in assets overall—including $2.1 billion tied specifically to U.S. authorities.
Thursday's action follows a pattern of large-scale Tether freezes coordinated with US authorities. In November 2023, the company froze about $225 million in USDT linked to a Southeast Asia human-trafficking and pig butchering scam investigation. In January 2026, Tether froze roughly $182 million across five Tron wallets in another action.
To date Tether has supported more than 2,000 cases globally, including over 1,050 tied to U.S. law enforcement, and has led to the freezing of more than $4 billion in assets, including over $1.9 billion connected to U.S. authorities. This latest action adds to a series of high-profile enforcement efforts in which Tether has supported U.S. and international authorities in tracing, freezing, and seizing funds tied to fraud, terrorism financing, and sanctions evasion.
These freezes typically involve the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the U.S. Treasury Department agency that administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions. The increasing frequency and scale of such actions reflect both the growing use of stablecoins in illicit finance and Tether's efforts to maintain regulatory compliance.
Tether’s latest action follows a pair of high-profile crypto project hacks that have been linked by investigators to North Korean hackers: the $285 million Drift Protocol attack, and $292 million Kelp DAO exploit. Tether's biggest competitor, USDC stablecoin issuer Circle, faced criticism following the Drift Protocol hack for not taking action to freeze funds linked to the attack. The firm defended its inaction, saying that it can only freeze funds when identified by law enforcement or required through court orders.
Tyler Durden Thu, 04/23/2026 - 11:35