• Nuclear accidents pose “essentially zero risk" to public health

    A new study by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) concluded that there is only a “very small” risk to public health if a severe nuclear accident were to occur in the United States

  • A solution for troubled ITER nuclear fusion reactor

    Nuclear fusion offers the promise of endless energy supply – but the technology requires extremely high temperatures of up to 150 million degrees in order to form plasma (ionized gas); since no material can withstand these temperatures, the fuel (a mixture of two isotopes of hydrogen: deuterium and tritium) must be kept trapped in extremely energetic magnetic fields; the magnets that produce these fields are composed of giant coils of superconducting cables; so far, the superconducting cables designed for the European ITER fusion reactor have been unable to withstand the planned 40,000 to 60,000 charge cycles

  • Nuclear plant safety questions amid U.S. House primary

    The Davis-Besse nuclear reactor is quickly becoming a key issue in the upcoming 6 March primaries in one Ohio Congressional district that has two senior Democratic representatives facing off against one another as a result of the 2010 census and new district maps

  • GAO: critical infrastructure operators need more coherent regulations

    A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the bulk of U.S. critical infrastructure is inadequately protected as operators lack a coherent set of guidelines

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  • One step closer to controlling nuclear fusion

    Nuclear fusion – heating gas to several million degrees so it becomes plasma — holds the promise of abundant energy, but controlling the fusion process inside a nuclear reactor is exceedingly difficult; scientists achieve a breakthrough in controlling instability in the plasma

  • Fukushima decontamination efforts proves to be daunting task

    For the past several months Japan has been steadily recovering from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the country on 11 March, but now cleanup crews have begun to tackle one of their most difficult jobs yet – decontaminating areas hit by radioactive fallout

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  • New material for building thermonuclear fusion reactors

    Two European projects – ITER and DEMO — propose development of fusion reactors that are economically viable; this work depends on the development of new structural materials capable of withstanding damage by irradiation and elevated temperatures resulting from the fusion reaction

  • Japanese government, Tokyo Electric blasted for handling of Fukushima

    A recent report revealed that Japan’s response to the nuclear crises at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic energy plant following the devastating 11 March earthquake and tsunami was riddled with false assumptions, miscommunication, and poor planning

  • Fukushima reaches cold shutdown conditions, critics scoff

    Last week Japanese officials declared that the beleaguered Fukushima Daiichi power plant had become stable enough for engineers to complete a “cold shutdown”; officials also stated that the facility had ceased to leak substantial amounts of radiation, a claim received skeptically by critics

  • The north of England can become the world’s nuclear base

    Despite the repercussions from Fukushima, the nuclear new-construction renaissance continues in countries such as China, India, and the United Kingdom with sixty reactors under construction, 155 planned, and a further 338 proposed’ a new study suggests the that the north of England can become a hub for nuclear power-related activities

  • Small, modular reactors to figure in U.S. energy future

    A newly released study concludes that small modular reactors (SMR) may hold the key to the future of U.S. nuclear power generation; an SMR would have a generating capacity of 600 megawatts or less, would be factory-built as modular components, and then shipped to their desired location for assembly

  • U.K. approves new reactor designs

    U.K. regulators have given interim approval to two new nuclear reactor designs — the EDF and Areva’s UK EPRTM and Westinghouse’s AP1000; the regulators say that there are still some issues to be addressed, and that neither reactor can be built in the United Kingdom until these issues are resolved

  • Decontaminating radiation-laced water at Fukushima Daiichi

    Thanks to special radiation devices, made by UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, cleanup crews in Japan have been able to treat five million gallons of water contaminated by radiation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant

  • Hairline cracks discovered in Ohio nuclear plant

    The discovery of several hairline cracks at a nuclear power plant in Ohio has watchdog groups questioning its structural integrity; on Monday a team of inspectors found several hairline cracks including one thirty-feet long at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, located outside of Toledo

  • Eight months later, Fukushima reactor could still be active

    Troubles continue at the beleaguered Fukushima Daichii nuclear power plant in Japan with officials detecting radioactive xenon gas, a byproduct of nuclear fission, from reactor two nearly eight months after the dangerous meltdowns