Credit: CC0 Public Domain The main criticism about nuclear fusion has been that its vast potential as a commercial source of energy has always been just out of reach. But a group of the nation’s top fusion scientists and researchers just issued a report to the Department of Energy that calls for the U.S. to…Continue Reading
by The Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences Deformation landscape of the nickel-64 nucleus. Prolate, oblate local minima and main spherical minimum are indicated by red, green and blue ellipsoids, respectively. (Source: IFJ PAN) Until recently, scientists believed that only very massive nuclei could have excited zero-spin states of increased stability…Continue Reading
Happy Holidays. This week we are reprinting our top stories of 2020. This article first appeared online in our “Outbreak” issue in April, 2020. I’m no stranger to forced isolation. For the better part of my 20s, I served as a nuclear submarine officer running secret missions for the United States Navy. I deployed across…Continue Reading
Julian Brave NoiseCat, an expert at a progressive think tank, doesn’t like nuclear power, but he’s willing to support it because of climate change. Why he matters: NoiseCat personifies a shift in mindset among individuals, corporations and governments that’s set to accelerate under President-elect Joe Biden: The urgency of climate change is compelling support for…Continue Reading
The weapon used in the killing of Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was satellite-controlled, Al-Alam TV reports citing an anonymous source. “The weapon used in the murder was Israeli-made and controlled with the use of a satellite,” the source told the Iranian state-run TV network. Earlier, Iranian media reported that Fakhrizadeh was shot dead with…Continue Reading
A top Iranian nuclear scientist, widely viewed as the father of the country’s nuclear-weapons program, was shot and killed Friday, dealing a blow to Tehran’s atomic ambitions and threatening to increase tensions between Iran and its foes. Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, blamed “terrorists” for the death and said there were “serious indications” of Israeli…Continue Reading
People in wealthy, industrialised countries are used to finding their supermarket shelves fully stocked. Yet for a brief period early in the COVID-19 pandemic, some of those shelves emptied out, as panic drove shoppers to stockpile and supply chains were interrupted. For many, this came as a reminder that our food supply system is not…Continue Reading
Advanced Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Design for 90 Days Trip to Mars Brian Wang | October 26, 2020 | Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies (USNC-Tech) has delivered a design concept to NASA as part of a study on nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) flight demonstration. Fully Ceramic Micro-encapsulated (FCM™) fuel will enable a safer nuclear rocket with double…Continue Reading
A nuclear power startup called NuScale has received safety approval for its tiny nuclear reactor. The reactor features a compact form factor and modular design. If something goes wrong in the reactor, the system douses itself in its own cooling pool to prevent disaster. When you hear the term “nuclear power” you might immediately think…Continue Reading
Israel has privately expressed concerns to the Trump administration about a new nuclear facility reportedly built in the Saudi desert with Chinese help, Israeli officials said.Why it matters: This secret development raises concerns that the Saudis are building infrastructure for a future military nuclear program.What’s happening: Israeli defense and intelligence officials raised concerns with their…Continue Reading
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) successfully completed a 100 percent power manual emergency shutdown test of the China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) on July 31. CEFR is a 65 MW thermal, 20 MW electric, sodium-cooled, pool-type reactor with a 30-year design lifetime and a target burnup of 100 MWd/kg. China started building a 600 megawatt…Continue Reading
