This Week's Top 5: Hydrogen, Nuclear and bp's Biogas Energy One of nuclear energy’s most compelling selling points is its reliability. Nuclear reactors should be able to run day and night, unbothered by weather conditions. This quality has often given nuclear the edge over wind and solar in debates on sustainable baseload power. However, an unfolding crisis across Central and Eastern Europe is testing that reputation. The waterline of the Danube, the continent's second longest river, has fallen to levels not seen in living memory. An agreement between Google and NextEra Energy will see Iowa's only nuclear power station, the Duane Arnold Energy Center, brought back into service. Located near Cedar Rapids, the 615MW facility ceased operations in 2020 but is projected to resume power generation during the opening quarter of 2029 through a power purchase agreement spanning 25 years. This initiative is aiming to address one of the fastest-growing issues confronting the tech industry today: uninterruptible, low-carbon power. bp has recorded its strongest quarterly earnings since the early stages of the Ukraine conflict, reporting profits of US$5.73bn for the second quarter of 2026. The energy major says the three months to the end of June were shaped by significant geopolitical disruption, particularly across the Middle East, yet its financial performance remained resilient as it continued supplying energy markets during a volatile period. Quarterly profits climbed by more than US$2.5bn compared with the previous quarter, underlining the strength of bp's conventional energy operations as CEO Meg O'Neill presses ahead with a wide-ranging review of the company's priorities. Reflecting on her first full quarter in charge, Meg says her first four months as CEO have been "marked by one of the most disrupted periods in the global energy market". Former Shell executive Anna Mascolo has been named President of Northern &