Rising electricity demand has researchers exploring a wide range of methods to generate more power, including a type of nuclear reactor that’s smaller than traditional nuclear plants.
Articles on Nuclear reactor
Displaying 1 - 20 of 31 articles
Small-scale nuclear reactors are a promising power source. But implementing them will require overcoming technical and societal challenges.
If you try to launch or land a spacecraft anywhere close to another object on the lunar surface, that object will get sandblasted with rocks, dust and sand.
Nuclear reactors in space may sound like something out of science fiction, but they are likely to prove important for powering long-term space missions.
The US and UK want to triple nuclear power capacity worldwide by 2050. But that leaves renewable rich ally Australia in a tricky situation
Now that plans for a national radioactive waste management facility near Kimba in South Australia have been abandoned, what next? Let’s learn from our mistakes.
Nuclear submarines may offer protection – but they will leave us with a high-level nuclear waste headache
Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is set to release radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean – but the cause for concern is minimal.
The power plant’s sixth reactor has been shut down, all but eliminating the risk of a nuclear meltdown. But fighting at the site could still release radioactive material.
Russia appears to have developed a revolutionary mini-reactor able to power a missile.
Exporting nuclear technology is lucrative, but without strict safeguards, buyers could divert it into bomb programs. Why is Saudi Arabia shopping for nuclear power, and should the US provide it?
Lessons learned from Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the Fukushima disaster in 2011 have changed how utilities brace for big storms.
Advanced small modular reactors, known as SMRs, will probably have many advantages over older technology. But it’s not yet known how they will stack up against other sources of electricity.
If recent history repeats itself, the proposed repository for extremely dangerous nuclear waste will stay dead.
By figuring out fission, physicists were able to split uranium atoms and release massive amounts of energy. This Manhattan Project work paved the way both for atomic bombs and nuclear power reactors.
A nuclear physicist and disarmament expert recommends reading on nuclear disasters, weapons, authoritarianism and climate change.
Nuclear power plants don’t just pump out steady, carbon-free electricity; they also help produce the people the US needs for nuclear weapons inspections.
Nuclear industry players tout small modular reactors as an “inherently safe,” cost-effective source of electricity. The reality may be less attractive.
Vietnam recently cancelled it’s plans for the procurement of nuclear energy. There are lessons South Africa can take from this.
The latest earthquake off Japan’s east coast was an ominous reminder of the 2011 Fukushima disaster. But despite a technical hitch at one of Fukushima’s other reactors, there was no repeat this time.
Top contributors
-
Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia
-
Research Fellow in nuclear waste disposal, University of Sheffield
-
Emeritus Professor, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University
-
Professor of Nuclear Physics, Director of Birmingham Centre of Nuclear Education and Research, University of Birmingham
-
Josey Centennial Professor of Energy Resources, The University of Texas at Austin
-
Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Surrey
-
Associate Professor of History, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
-
Executive Director of the Durham Energy Institute, Durham University
-
ARC Australian Laureate Professor, University of Tasmania
-
Associate Professor of Construction Management; Director of Research, Applied Research Center, Florida International University
-
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Irvine
-
Timothy J. Jorgensen is a Friend of The Conversation.
Director of the Health Physics and Radiation Protection Graduate Program and Professor of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown University
-
Reader / Associate Professor in Environmental Geoscience, Sheffield Hallam University
-
Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
-
Professor of Nuclear Physics, Michigan State University