The robots are sparing us the pains of tomorrow.
Picking up and examining pebbles of fuel is just the first step.
This tech could be more practical than tokamaks.
Two competing nuclear fusion companies, each with venture capital superstars as major investors, say we’re approaching the “Kitty Hawk moment” for their technology as early as 2025.
Here’s a riddle: What do the Moon, nuclear weapons, clean energy of the future, terrorism, and lung disease all have in common?
The answer is helium-3, a gas that’s extremely rare on Earth but 100 million times more abundant on the Moon.
The capability to show anatomic details of the lungs and airways, and the ability to display functional imaging as a patient breathes, makes helium-3 MRI far better than the standard method of testing lung function. Called spirometry, this method tells physicians how the lungs function overall, but does not home in on particular areas that may be causing a problem. Plus, spirometry requires patients to follow instructions and hold their breath, so it is not great for testing young children with pulmonary disease.
Continue reading “Shoot for the Moon: Its Surface Contains a Pot of Gold” »
Wow…even I was amazed by these stats and timeline… and I am an unapologetic optimist and futurist who wants to live forever lol.
This video is a synopsis of our research report “Rethinking Energy 2020–2030: 100% Solar, Wind, and Batteries is Just the Beginning” that was published on October 27th, 2020 and is available for download free of charge from our RethinkX website https://www.rethinkx.com/energy.
In a feat requiring perseverance, world-leading technology, and no small amount of caution, scientists have used intense X-rays to inspect irradiated nuclear fuel. The imaging, led by researchers at Purdue University and conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, revealed a 3D view of the fuel’s interior structure, laying the groundwork for better nuclear fuel designs and models.
Until now, examinations of uranium fuel have been limited to mostly surface microscopy or to various characterization techniques using mock versions that possess little radioactivity. But scientists want to know at a deeper level how the material changes as it undergoes fission inside a nuclear reactor. The resulting insights from this study, which the Journal of Nuclear Materials published in August 2020, can lead to nuclear fuels that function more efficiently and cost less to develop.
Continue reading “Scientists gain an unprecedented view of irradiated nuclear fuel” »
On the path to writing his Ph.D. dissertation, Lucio Milanese made a discovery—one that refocused his research, and will now likely dominate his thesis.
Milanese studies plasma, a gas-like flow of ions and electrons that comprises 99 percent of the visible universe, including the Earth’s ionosphere, interstellar space, the solar wind, and the environment of stars. Plasmas, like other fluids, are often found in a turbulent state characterized by chaotic, unpredictable motion, providing multiple challenges to researchers who seek to understand the cosmic universe or hope to harness burning plasmas for fusion energy.
Milanese is interested in what physicist Richard Feynman called “the most important unsolved problem of classical physics”—turbulence. In this case, the focus is plasma turbulence, its nature and structure.
The UK Space Agency and Rolls-Royce are joining forces for a unique study into how nuclear power and technologies could be used as part of space exploration.
Circa 2020 radiationless laser.
One of the world’s leading specialists in laser fusion, the Australian physicist Prof. Heinrich Hora, has proposed a new type of nuclear reactor which promises to provide highly-efficient, radioactivity-free generation of electric power, with virtually unlimited reserves of fuel. The design uses ultra-high-power, ultra-short-pulsed lasers to trigger fusion reactions between nuclei of hydrogen and boron. Hora believes that a prototype of his reactor could be running within the decade.
In the previous installments of this series, Jonathan Tennenbaum introduced readers to the new reactor concept and its fascinating scientific and technological background.
Continue reading “Meet the father of the hydrogen-boron laser fusion reactor” »
This engine will let us stay there for months, if not years.
Could the key to interstellar exploration be a nuclear-powered flyer that circles Jupiter?
A US company says it will have a nuclear-powered prototype vehicle on the road within two years.
Laser Power Systems from Connecticut is developing a method of propulsion that uses thorium to produce electricity to power a car engine.
Thorium is an element similar to uranium and because it is such a dense material it has the potential to produce massive amounts of heat.
Continue reading “The thorium-powered car: Eight grams, one million miles” »
