• U.S. gives $47 million for smart grid trials

    The Department of Energy is directing $47 million of the stimulus package to speed up work on several smart grid technology test sites

  • Questions raised about cost of, need for new electricity grid

    A new national grid system for the United States would involve stringing 19,000 miles of high-voltage lines at a cost of$60 billion; some experts say this is too expensive — and unnecessary

  • NSA to build $2 billion data center in Utah

    The NSA major data center — in Fort Meade, Maryland — has maxed out the capacity of the Baltimore area power grid; the super-secret agency is building a second data center in San Antonio, Texas, and has revealed plans to build a third center — a mammoth, 65 MW, $1.93 billion in Camp Williams, Utah

  • U.K. infrastructure vulnerable to terrorism, bad weather

    A comprehensive new study of U.K. infrastructure says not enough was being done to ensure systems such as energy and transportation could keep going in adverse circumstances

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  • ITER fusion project will start with hydrogen

    The ITER experiments will start in 2018 — but will be literally lighter, using hydrogen rather than heavier tritium and deuterium; the tritium and deuterium experiments will have to wait until 2026

  • More modest version of nuclear fusion power project to start

    Nuclear fusion reactor to built in southern France by an international consortium; operation will begin in 2018

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  • GPO reveals confidential U.S. nuclear information by mistake

    A 2004 agreement between the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) requires the United States to submit to the agency a detailed list of the addresses and specifications of hundreds of U.S. nuclear-weapons-related facilities, laboratories, reactors, and research activities, including the location of fuel for bombs; the Department of Energy (DOE) prepared the report, and Government Printing Office (GPO) printed it so it could be submitted to the IAEA — but the GPO went ahead and, mistakenly, posted 268-page dossier on its Web site

  • U.S. unprepared for severe solar storms

    Mankind’s vulnerability to disruptions caused by severe solar storms has increased as a result of the increasing dependence of human societies on technology and electricity; a storm on the scale of the 1859 Carrington Event could damage the U.S. electrical grid to such an extent that vast regions of the country could be without power for weeks, perhaps months.

  • Dounreay nuclear dismantling team to use giant robot

    The U.K.’s experimental fusion nuclear reactor was ordered shut down and dismantled; dismantling team unveils a design for a 75-ton robot which will cut up radioactive equipment

  • Debate over alternatives to Yucca Mountain project

    The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project is being deliberately starved for funds by the Obama administration; some argue the United States should use UREX reprocessing technology to reprocess waste (this was the Bush administration’s preference); MIT and Harvard scientists say it is perfectly safe to store nuclear waste above ground for 60 or 70 years, while working on a better alternative to UREX

  • Funding continues for Yucca Mountain project

    Both Senator Harry Reid and President Barack Obama — and also Secretary of Energy Steven Chu — want the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project — 25 years and $13.5 billion in the making — ended, but funding continues

  • Senate debates federal role in U.S. power grid

    Legislators debate whether to allow the federal government to compel states to provide sites for “high-priority” federal transmissions projects; legislators also considering eminent domain provisions, which would allow the government to seize privately owned land that it judged as necessary for new power lines

  • NERC approves strengthened cyber security standards

    The North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s (NERC) independent Board of Trustees last week approved eight revised cyber security standards; entities found in violation of the standards can be fined up to $1 million per day, per violation in the United States

  • More than 950 billion barrels of crude have been extracted since 1850

    How much crude oils has been extracted around the world since 1850, the year the first commercial oil-wells were sunk in? Until now, experts calculated that number to be 944 billion barrels; new study suggests a figure that is 35 percent higher than that

  • Critics: Cybersecurity standards for grid do not go far enough

    Legislators introduce the Critical Electric Infrastructure Protection Act, would require FERC to issue updated regulations for the U.S. power grid within 120 days of enactment, but critics say the bill is too limited