Nuclear Energy

‘Artificial Sun’ Lasts 48 Seconds at 100,000,000°, for New Nuclear Fusion Record 0424.rtfScientists Just Set Another Nuclear Fusion Record 0224.rtfRising Temperatures Are Wreaking Havoc Year-Round 0823.rtf - One effect is less cooling for nuclear power plants (Rhone River example in France). Power plant efficiency of heat conversion falls as the temperature of the heat sink (here, a river) rises. Also, sometimes cooling water bodies are placed under restriction, to prevent the worst tempoerature effects on river life.U.S. Lab Says It Repeated Fusion Energy Feat — with Higher Yield 0823.rtfMini Reactor Cost Surge Threatens Nuclear’s Next Big Thing 0623.rtfClick for more

The Pathway to 90% Clean Electricity Is Mostly Clear. The Last 10%, Not So Much 0922.rtfNuclear Power Could Be the Future of Expedition Cruises 0622.rtfMini Nuclear Reactors Have an Outsized Waste Problem 0522.rtfU.K. Startup’s ‘Big Friendly Gun’ Achieves Fusion Breakthrough 0422.rtfEye-Watering Energy Prices Spark a Nuclear Power Rethink 0322.rtfLab Hits Milestone on Long Road to Fusion Power 0122.rtfThe Dubious Track Record of ‘New’ Nuclear Technology 1121.rtfNuclear Power Won’t Save The World. It Won’t Even Help. 1121.rtf - Solar + storage is SO much cheaper than nuclear, even new versions. So is wind + storage. Old issues too - nuclear waste storage, etc.Nuclear Fusion Edges toward the Mainstream 1021.rtfBill Gates and Warren Buffett to Build New Kind of Nuclear Reactor in Wyoming 0621.rtf - sodium-cooled fast reactor with molten salt-based energy storageCompact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is ‘Very Likely to Work’ 0920.rtf - Tight tokamak, using high-temperature superconductors, makes it the size of a tennis court, instead of a soccer field.Some Cities Snub Plan to Save Nuclear Power with Mini Reactors 0920.rtfNuclear Is Getting Hammered by Green Power and the Pandemic 0520.rtfWhen It Comes to Nuclear Power, Could Smaller Be Better? 0220.rtfHow Going Small May Fuel Nuclear Power's Comeback 0619.rtfDecline in Nuclear Power Threatens Global Climate Goals, IEA Says 0519.rtfHigh Temperature Superconductors Bring Nuclear Fusion to Grid in 15 Years? 0318.rtfThis Nuclear Reactor Eats Nuclear Waste 0515.rtfFailing Nuclear Power Is Good For Coal, Bad For Earth 0817.rtfZero-Carbon Energy, except Biomass, Boosts Human and Ecological Health 0317.rtf - quick summary of below“100% Renewable Energy” Will Require Nukes, CCS and:or Seasonal Storage 0317.rtf - more in-depth than aboveNext-Generation Nuclear Reactors Stalled by Costly Delays 0217.rtfAmid Climate Concerns, Nuclear Plants Feel the Heat of Warming Water 0916.rtfNuclear New-Build Not Fast Enough to Curb Global Warming 0616.rtfMolten Sodium Reactors Can Stop Nuclear Meltdowns 0516.rtfThe World Really Could Go Nuclear 0915.rtfWhy the Nuclear Energy World Is Thinking Small 0315.rtfAtomic Balm - Prominent Environmentalists Back Nuclear 0215.rtfNuclear Power Needs to Double to Meet Warming Goal 0115.rtfNuclear Power Is the Greenest Option, Say Top Scientists 0115.rtfBetting on the Need, Scientists Work on Lighter, Cleaner Nuclear Energy 1214.rtfAdvanced Nuclear Energy and the Battle against Climate Change 1214.rtf - more detail than above on history and the (mostly the same) “new” designsCan We Solve Climate & Energy Problem without Nuclear? - Lester 0214.pdfLockheed Says It Makes Breakthrough on Fusion Energy Project 1014.rtf - probably low-energy nuclear reactions: cold fusionNuclear Power’s Unlikely Allies 0514.rtfCarbon Conundrum Prompts Some Greens to Think Nuclear 1113.rtfTop Climate Scientists Ask Environmentalists to Support Nuclear Power 1113.rtfClimate Change Will Disrupt Energy Supplies, DOE Warns 0713.rtfRadical Reactors 1212.rtfUranium Shortage Looms 1108.rtfNuclear Thoughts 0607.rtf

Betting on the Need, Scientists Work on Lighter, Cleaner Nuclear Energy 1214.rtf

- emphasis on “new” more efficient and safer designs. Molten salt ractors are highlighted. They contain uranium (or thorium) fuel dissolved in liquid salt - at far lower pressures than traditional Light Water Reactors. This makes it possible to use almost all of the fuel’s energy, instead of only 5% in traditional LWRs. The resulting nuclear waste is only 2.5% as much as a LWR. A molten salt reactor can “burn” current spent fuel, most of it now stored in casks on-site, in the US awaiting geological storage. Several designs, including molten salt are “walk-away safe.” If a leak happens, they stop the chain reaction and cool off - with no external intervention.