Jul
22
The New Nuclear Controversy
July 22, 2010 | 9 Comments
Big is better – or so many have believed for decades about atomic fission reactor and the generator sets needed to use the output. Now Rod Adams from Atomic Insights Blog has entered the Controversy – or more on point – sets out a basis for no controversy. Realistically, small fission reactors have been used [...]
Jul
13
A Look At Sub Critical Reactors and the Potential
July 13, 2010 | 1 Comment
Virginia Tech is said to researching accelerator-driven reactor designs with its GEM*STAR collaboration project. The idea of a sub-critical reactor is to have a sub-critical reaction running that is kept going by supplementing it with an external source of neutrons. A particle accelerator supplies the necessary neutrons. Thus what exists is a sub-critical atomic fission [...]
Jun
10
Nuclear Dreams Do Come True
June 10, 2010 | 2 Comments
Rod Adams over at NuclearInsights discovered and now advises a new website that seems dedicated to getting some basic nuclear fission information into popular form. The new site is called PopAtomic.org with backing from some interested persons without it seems, any major backing from the industry. The caveat to that is one of the advisors [...]
May
20
A Worthwhile Foray Into Nuclear Energy
May 20, 2010 | 4 Comments
Brian Wang over at NextBigFuture posted an interesting collection of nuclear energy pages under the title ‘Carnival of Nuclear Energy’. Brian did a good job of catching the current events and in his way of brief titles and very short summaries puts out the bait for linking out to more info. Brian covers some 14 [...]
May
3
One Step Closer to a Thorium Fueled Power Plant
May 3, 2010 | 3 Comments
Alf Bjorseth, famed venture investor and Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) founder is behind the nuclear startup Thor Energy. Thor Energy will conduct a series of tests with Swedish utility Vattenfall to study the feasibility of thorium reactors. The nations of Scandinavia, Norway and Sweden get on pretty well even though Norway managed to split a [...]
Apr
22
How Not to Be Afraid of Nuclear Power
April 22, 2010 | 1 Comment
The obvious answer, simply put is – get informed. But that borders on silliness, as nuclear power is sophisticated science that needs a lot of successfully passed education to become involved. But those smart geek types who do pass have a few among them that can get the messages most important to everyone else out [...]
Apr
8
Reactor Containment That Could Self Repair
April 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Los Alamos researchers report a surprising mechanism that allows nanocrystalline materials to self repair themselves after suffering radiation-induced damage. Nanocrystalline materials are those created from nanosized particles, in the Los Alamos research, copper particles. A single nanosized particle – called a grain – is the size of a virus or even smaller. Nanocrystalline materials consist [...]
Mar
10
Nuclear Progress in the Face of Overwhelming Odds
March 10, 2010 | 5 Comments
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is 35 years old. Over those 35 years the NRC has not certified any new reactor types. Not One. Today, only four designs can be referenced for applications to build and operate a nuclear power plant. They are: 1. Advanced Boiling Water Reactor design by GE Nuclear Energy last [...]
