For decades, the U.S. has had a plutonium problem. Around 100 tons of the stuff was made during the Cold War to go into powerful atomic bombs. But as nuclear stockpiles were dismantled, the government had to store the radioactive material in high-security facilities.

Now it wants startups to help get rid of some of it.

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it has selected five nuclear startups to enter into negotiations with the government to receive a portion of the plutonium, which could potentially be used to power a new generation of nuclear reactors. The Department of Energy previously identified 34 tons of plutonium for disposal.

The five startups include Oklo, Standard Nuclear, Shine Technologies, Flibe Energy, and Exodys Energy.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright was previously on Oklo’s board, but he resigned when he joined the administration and said he has divested his shares. Sam Altman was Oklo’s board chair following its merger with his acquisition company, AltC; Altman resigned the position last year.

While plutonium does exist in nature, it is more typically a by-product of bombarding non-fissile uranium with neutrons. Once formed, that isotope of plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years, meaning the government can’t just wait it out.

Oklo is developing a reactor that can run on traditional uranium fuel as well as plutonium. The plutonium would help the company fuel its first reactors. Exodys Energy is also developing a reactor that can operate using some plutonium as part of mixed oxide fuel, or MOX, which blends uranium with plutonium. Flibe Energy is working toward a reactor that would run on plutonium and other by-products of fission reactors.

MOX is currently produced in France, and while the U.S. had plans to make it in South Carolina, the first Trump administration canceled the project after it blew through budgets and timelines. One of Oklo’s partners in the project, U.K.-based Newcleo, said it intends to build its own MOX fuel fabrication facility nearby.

Not everyone is thrilled with the plan, though. Since the plutonium came from nuclear weapons, the security concerns are significant. “Countries have tried this before, and they concluded that, as nice as it would be to use that plutonium as fuel, it’s really just a liability and we need to dispose of it permanently,” Scott Roecker, a vice president at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, told the New York Times.

For the startups, the next step is to enter into advanced negotiations with the government over security and the transportation of the plutonium. 

Every year I read through thousands of Startup Battlefield applications. And every year, I see the same pattern: The founders who belong on this stage are often the ones who almost didn’t apply.

They think they’re too early. They think they need more traction. They think the program is for companies further along than they are.

So here’s what we’re actually looking for and how to make sure your application reflects it. The deadline to be considered is May 27, which is tomorrow — time is running out for you to apply right here!

And if you’re not up to speed on this year’s Startup Battlefield details, it’s once again a premiere part of TechCrunch Disrupt, which will be in San Francisco from October 13-15 and concludes with the crowning of this year’s future champion. And that list of champions includes some incredible companies, from giants like Cloudflare and Discord, to the most recent crop of winners, who you can learn about in detail right here.

What gets a company selected for Startup Battlefield

Startup Battlefield is not a competition for the most polished companies. It never has been. It’s a competition for the most promising ones.

We’re looking for companies with ideas that feel meaningfully different and category-defining, with the potential to make a major impact in their industry or geography. For every application, the question we ask is simple: Does this change something? Not incrementally. Genuinely.

Product and disruption. What are you building, and does it represent a real shift in how something works? We’re not looking for a better version of what already exists. We’re looking for the thing that makes the existing version feel obsolete.

The founding team. Why you, why now, why this problem? Your origin story is part of the application. The founders who can articulate their conviction clearly, not just their market size, are the ones who stand out.

Industry and geographic diversity. The Startup Battlefield 200 is a global cohort. We actively look for companies from every corner of the world and every vertical in tech. If you’re building something important in a geography or sector that doesn’t often get a spotlight, that matters to us.

What doesn’t disqualify you from Startup Battlefield

Having press coverage. Local coverage is fine. Industry coverage is fine. A few founder profiles are fine. We’re looking for companies whose core technology hasn’t had its moment yet. If you’ve had some coverage but the product hasn’t been showcased, that’s exactly what Disrupt is for. Apply and show us what you have.

Being pre-launch. You need a working MVP, but you don’t need customers. You don’t need revenue. Pre-launch companies are genuinely welcome.

Having applied before. Many Startup Battlefield 200 companies applied more than once before being selected. A previous rejection says nothing about your company’s future or your chances this time.

Raising money. Bootstrapped, pre-seed, and seed companies are all welcome. Series A companies are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, particularly founders building in capital-intensive industries or raising in markets where funding dynamics differ from Silicon Valley norms.

Tips for a strong Startup Battlefield application

Show your product working. This is the single most important thing. Not a mockup. Not a simulation. Not an animated explainer video with upbeat background music. Your MVP in action, in real time. Even if it’s rough, even if it’s a screen recording from your phone. We want to see it work.

Know your competitive landscape. “We have no competitors” is not a credible answer, and it raises questions about how well you understand your market. Name your competitors, acknowledge them honestly, and then explain clearly and specifically why you win. This is one of the most important parts of the application and one of the most commonly underdeveloped.

Tell your story. Why did you start this company? What did you see that others didn’t? What makes you the right person to build it? The founding narrative is a meaningful part of how we evaluate teams and it’s the part most founders underwrite. Don’t skip it.

Don’t overpolish. Write clearly, show the product, tell the truth about where you are. We can see around rough edges. What we struggle to see around is an application that’s been so carefully managed that the actual company is invisible.

Resubmit if you need to. If you submit before you’re ready, don’t panic. You can resubmit until the May 27 deadline. You cannot edit an already submitted application, but you can submit a new one.

Learn what it takes from the founders who’ve done it

Build Mode, TechCrunch’s podcast for early-stage founders, is the best place to start. Hear directly from past Battlefield companies like Forethought AI and Glīd, breakout founders like Artisan and TaskRabbit, and top-tier investors like General Catalyst on what it takes to build a company worth putting on a global stage.

Listen to Build Mode →

The deadline to apply for Startup Battlefield

Applications close May 27, 2026, and you can still apply right here. Selected companies are notified approximately two months before TechCrunch Disrupt.

If you’re on the fence, apply. The worst outcome is you don’t get selected this cycle and you’ll have a stronger application next year for having gone through it.

We built this program to find you before the world does. The application is your first pitch.

Apply for Startup Battlefield 200 →

Volvo Cars reached an agreement with the Trump administration that exempts the automaker from a U.S. crackdown on Chinese-connected vehicle technology.

The Swedish automaker, which is majority owned by China’s Geely Holding, said Tuesday that it received specific authorization from the U.S. Department of Commerce to continue importing and selling vehicles with Chinese connected car technology in the United States. Connected car tech involves the software that covers everything from syncing with phones to some automated driving features. Bloomberg was first to report the special authorization.

Volvo was banned under rules finalized by the Biden administration in January 2025 that blocked vehicles equipped with software and hardware developed and maintained by Chinese companies over national security concerns. The rules kicked off with 2027 model-year vehicles equipped with software developed and maintained by Chinese companies. Another ban that prohibits the import of vehicle connected hardware begins with 2030 model-year vehicles.

Volvo vehicles are primarily made in Sweden and imported to the United States, with the exception of the EX90, which is assembled at the company’s factory in South Carolina. But Volvo’s ties to China’s Geely — and its manufacturing operations in the country — meant it would be banned under the new rules.

Volvo said the approval followed “constructive discussions” with the Commerce department and other U.S. officials regarding the company’s governance, technology, and data security. The automaker said it can now move forward with its expansion plans in the United States.

The automaker announced in September 2025 plans to bring two additional vehicles — the  XC60 midsize SUV and a new hybrid vehicle — into production at the South Carolina factory. In March, Volvo said it will also bring all production of the Polestar 3, an EV from its sister company Polestar, to the U.S. factory. The Polestar 3 is currently also produced in Chengdu, China.

The rule, known as “Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain: Connected Vehicles,” spends considerable time on the threat of vehicles with automated driving systems developed by companies with Chinese ties.

Under the rules, Chinese companies would be prohibited from testing autonomous vehicles in the United States. Today, several of these companies, including Baidu’s Apollo Autonomous Driving LLC, Pony.ai, and WeRide, have permits to test their autonomous vehicle technology (with a human safety operator behind the wheel) in California. TechCrunch has reached out to the Department of Motor Vehicles, the agency that regulates AVs in the state, to learn if these permits will be revoked.

The Dutch government has imposed a “complete prohibition” on the acquisition of Solvinity, a Dutch cloud provider, by Kyndryl, the American IT infrastructure company spun out of IBM in 2021. The deal, valued at roughly €100 million, would have given a US-headquartered firm control over the platform that runs DigiD, the digital identity system used by millions of Dutch residents to access tax, healthcare, pension, and government services.

Willemijn Aerdts, the Dutch minister for the digital economy, announced the decision on Monday in a letter to parliament. The government said the acquisition poses a possible “risk to the public interest” based on the recommendation of the Bureau for Investment Screening, which evaluated the deal under the Netherlands’ foreign investment screening framework.

It is the first time the bureau has blocked a US acquisition since it began operating. The decision was not close. The screening body recommended a full prohibition rather than imposing conditions.

Solvinity does not just host DigiD. The company also operates the infrastructure behind MijnOverheid, the government’s citizen communications portal, and Digipoort, the gateway for business-to-government digital services. Together, these platforms form a core layer of the Netherlands’ public digital infrastructure. Solvinity runs them from a government data centre under strict security requirements.

The concern is the US CLOUD Act. The 2018 law gives American law enforcement and intelligence agencies the authority to compel US-headquartered companies to hand over data stored on their servers anywhere in the world, regardless of the host country’s data protection laws. If Kyndryl owned Solvinity, the Dutch government’s digital identity data would theoretically fall within the reach of US authorities.

Kyndryl told Politico, which first reported the decision, that it was “extremely disappointed.” The company had announced the deal in November 2025 and framed it as a way to expand its sovereign cloud capabilities for regulated European customers. The Dutch competition authority, ACM, cleared the deal on antitrust grounds in February 2026. But the investment screening process, which runs separately, reached a different conclusion.

The decision sits within a broader European push to reduce dependence on American technology providers. Trump-era tariffs and sanctions have accelerated the shift. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud together control more than half of Europe’s cloud market. The European Commission is expected to present its Tech Sovereignty Package on 27 May, a day after the Dutch decision, with proposals that could restrict the use of US cloud platforms for sensitive government data across the EU.

The EU has already begun putting money behind the strategy. Brussels awarded a €180 million sovereign cloud contract to four European provider groups in April, closing a procurement process that will let EU institutions purchase sovereign cloud services for up to six years. One of the four winners, S3NS, is a joint venture between Thales and Google Cloud, underscoring how difficult it is to build genuinely independent infrastructure.

The Netherlands has form on this. In October 2025, the Dutch government invoked a Cold War-era law to seize control of Nexperia, a semiconductor manufacturer owned by China’s Wingtech, citing threats to European economic security. That case involved hardware. The Solvinity block involves data. The principle is the same: the Netherlands is willing to intervene when foreign ownership of critical infrastructure creates a national security risk, regardless of the acquirer’s country of origin.

For Kyndryl, the block is a commercial setback. The company, which reported $15.1 billion in revenue in its most recent fiscal year, has been trying to grow its European cloud and managed services business. Solvinity’s government contracts and security credentials made it an attractive target. Without the deal, Kyndryl loses a foothold in the Dutch public sector.

For the Netherlands, the calculation is that the risk of a US company controlling the platform behind the national digital identity system outweighs the commercial benefits of the acquisition. DigiD is used for everything from filing taxes to accessing medical records. The data it handles is among the most sensitive any government holds. Handing that to a company subject to the CLOUD Act is a risk the Dutch government has decided it will not take.

The decision will be watched across Europe. If the EU’s Tech Sovereignty Package follows through on restricting US cloud platforms for government data, the Dutch block on Kyndryl-Solvinity will look less like an outlier and more like a preview of what is coming for every American technology company doing business with European public institutions.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle grid is filled with a bunch of letter groups that don’t really read as words. If you’re struggling with the puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Change the channel.

Green group hint: Three strikes, you’re out.

Blue group hint: Hut-hut!

Purple group hint: Not Jones.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Sports TV networks.

Green group: Baseball positions, abbreviated.

Blue group: Football positions, abbreviated.

Purple group: ____ Smith.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports TV networks. The four answers are ESPN, FS1, NBA TV and NBCSN.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is baseball positions, abbreviated. The four answers are C, OF, P and SS.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is football positions, abbreviated. The four answers are CB, DT, K and TE.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ Smith. The four answers are JR, Lovie, Ozzie and Stan.

Today, Apple seeded the first beta of iOS 26.6 to developers, and so far, it contains exactly one known feature. It’s an alert that tells you when you’ve run out of space on your blocked contacts list. That’s right, and that’s it.  

The fact that Apple had to ship this new alert at all says something uncomfortable about how the company has handled the spam call problem, along with carriers and regulators. 

What is the blocked contacts limit and why does it matter?

Apple never told us, but iOS has always had a cap on how many numbers you can block. Based on discussions on Apple’s support forums, some users have hit that limit at around 20,000 blocked contacts, while others around 8,000. 

While the exact reason behind different limits for different users isn’t exactly clear, it might have something to do with carriers imposing their own caps. Some users also report hitting the limit with even fewer contacts. 

When the blocked contacts limit was reached, iOS simply stopped blocking new numbers, without any explanation, meaning any subsequent spam calls, from new numbers, will go through. 

And instead of solving that problem and increasing the limit in the new iOS version (either at the carrier or the device level), iOS 26.6 focuses on fixing the communication gap. 

The developer beta of iOS 26.6 contains a new “Blocked Contacts Limit Reached” alert that reads: “You’ve reached the maximum number of blocked contacts.” To block additional callers, you’ll need to remove an existing entry from your blocked contacts list in Settings.

Why is this still a problem in 2026?

Yes, that’s much better than leaving users in the dark, but I wouldn’t call it a solution to a problem that shows up differently for different users. Apple could have either increased the limit for all users or introduced a bulk unblocking tool. 

However, it’s not all Apple. A comment in the MacRumors forum thread, from the user KENESS, with 17 upvotes, points out the issue very well. It’s the carriers and regulators who have the ability to address spam calls at the network level, and yet somehow, it’s users like you and me who have to do things manually on our end. 

Spam calls are profitable for some carriers and wholesale providers, as the termination fees apply to every call that completes, regardless of legitimacy. The financial incentive to kill spam at the network level is weaker than it should be, which is why the problem persists.

On the positive side, iOS 26 offers features like Ask Reason for Calling and Silence Unknown Callers, which are more practical than building a block list with thousands of entries over the years. The new alert sure is a quality-of-life improvement, but it doesn’t address the core issue.

A public release of iOS 26.6 is likely several weeks away.