Menu

Blog

Archive for the ‘nuclear energy’ category: Page 51

Sep 20, 2021

The Race for Fusion Power Heats Up as Multiple Projects Hit New Milestones

Posted by in category: nuclear energy

Fusion power could be a silver bullet for the world’s energy and environmental woes, but it’s famously always 30 years away. A recent flurry of announcements is raising hopes that maybe the timeline has started to tighten.

The technology has huge potential because it promises to generate enormous amounts of energy from abundant fuel that can be cheaply extracted from seawater. On top of that, the process doesn’t create any long-lived radioactive waste, unlike conventional nuclear power plants.

The catch is that finding a way to contain the same reaction that powers the sun here on Earth is no easy feat. Now, though, MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has taken a significant step in that direction after carrying out the first tests of a magnet that can reach a field strength of 20 teslas, the highest ever achieved on Earth.

Sep 15, 2021

Fukushima plant failed to probe cause of faulty filters

Posted by in categories: law, nuclear energy

TEPCO has been repeatedly criticized for coverups and delayed disclosures of problems at the plant. In February, it said two seismometers at one reactor had remained broken since last year and failed to collect data during a powerful earthquake.


TOKYO (AP) — Officials at Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant have acknowledged they neglected to investigate the cause of faulty exhaust filters that are key to preventing radioactive pollution, after being forced to replace them twice.

Representatives of the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, made the revelation Monday during a regular review of the Fukushima Daiichi plant at a meeting with Japanese regulatory authorities. Three reactors at the plant melted following a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

Continue reading “Fukushima plant failed to probe cause of faulty filters” »

Sep 14, 2021

How to Gather Better Data and Reduce Dosage in Nuclear Facilities

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, robotics/AI

As demand for green energy increases, Spot can help nuclear operators improve uptime and reduce employees dosage by automating hazardous inspections. Learn more… See More.


Spot, an agile mobile robot, helps the nuclear power industry perform inspection tasks to improve operational data and reduce dosage for employees.

Continue reading “How to Gather Better Data and Reduce Dosage in Nuclear Facilities” »

Sep 14, 2021

U.S. Regulators Approve Texas Nuclear Dump Despite Opposition

Posted by in category: nuclear energy

A similar nuclear waste storage project, proposed in New Mexico by Holtec International Corp., is also awaiting approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The agency said it expects to make a decision on that proposal in January 2022.


Texas officials vowed to fight a federal regulator’s decision to approve plans to allow thousands of tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste to be stored in oil fields in the state.

Sep 13, 2021

China opens first plant that will turn nuclear waste into glass

Posted by in categories: materials, nuclear energy

The site in Sichuan province will help the country deal with growing quantities of radioactive material as it steps up its use of nuclear power.

Sep 12, 2021

Scientists Debut Magnet Powerful Enough to Lift an Aircraft Carrier

Posted by in categories: military, nuclear energy

Researchers at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor debuted the first part of a massive magnet they’ll use to build a fusion reactor.

Sep 11, 2021

World’s strongest fusion magnet achieves record-breaking magnetic field

Posted by in categories: innovation, nuclear energy

That successful demonstration paves the way for practical, commercial, carbon-free power.

Sep 10, 2021

Our partners at UK Atomic Energy Authority and Createc brought Spot to Sellafield Ltd to demonstrate how Spot can automate nuclear inspections

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, robotics/AI

Our partners at UK Atomic Energy Authority and Createc brought Spot to Sellafield Ltd to demonstrate how Spot can automate nuclear inspections, support decommissioning, and reduce risk for people in hazardous environments. Watch the full video: https://bit.ly/3ttOgcr

Sep 9, 2021

Laser-initiated fusion leads the way to safe, affordable clean energy

Posted by in categories: information science, nuclear energy

What we need now is an expansion of public and private investment that does justice to the opportunity at hand. Such investments may have a longer time horizon, but their eventual impact is without parallel. I believe that net-energy gain is within reach in the next decade; commercialization, based on early prototypes, will follow in very short order.

But such timelines are heavily dependent on funding and the availability of resources. Considerable investment is being allocated to alternative energy sources — wind, solar, etc. — but fusion must have a place in the global energy equation. This is especially true as we approach the critical breakthrough moment.

If laser-driven nuclear fusion is perfected and commercialized, it has the potential to become the energy source of choice, displacing the many existing, less ideal energy sources. This is because fusion, if done correctly, offers energy that is in equal parts clean, safe and affordable. I am convinced that fusion power plants will eventually replace most conventional power plants and related large-scale energy infrastructure that are still so dominant today. There will be no need for coal or gas.

Sep 9, 2021

Scientists Make Thermonuclear Fusion Breakthrough that Has No Real-World Application Yet

Posted by in categories: innovation, nuclear energy

Circa 2014


Scientists researching nuclear energy have made a breakthrough in nuclear fusion with an experiment that generated more fuel than was put in.

Page 51 of 117First4849505152535455Last