Argonne microreactor designed to charge long-haul trucks of the futureANS Nuclear CafeResearch & ApplicationsOctober 8, 2020, 7:00AM|Nuclear News StaffA team of engineers in Argonne National Laboratory’s Nuclear Science and Engineering Division have designed a microreactor called MiFi-DC that could be factory-produced and installed at highway rest stops across the country to power a proposed fleet of electric trucks. The reactors are described in an article, Could Argonne’s mini nuclear reactor solve the e-truck recharging dilemma? and a video released by Argonne on October 6.Pairing a liquid metal thermal reactor with a thermal energy storage system, each reactor could fuel an average of 17 trucks a day.ExpandTags:argonneenergy storagemicroreactorstransportationShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
What does the Supreme Court have to do with nuclear waste?ANS Nuclear CafeWaste ManagementOctober 7, 2020, 10:05AM|Steve NesbitThe views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the American Nuclear Society.As if COVID-19 and a rancorous presidential election were not enough, over the next few weeks we will also be dealing with the confirmation of a justice to fill the open seat on the Supreme Court. What does that have to do with the American Nuclear Society and nuclear technology? Well, nothing directly, but there is an interesting connection between the Supreme Court and a notable case on nuclear waste decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in August 2013.ExpandTags:brett cavanaughdoegregory jaczkoharry reidmerrick garlandnrcnwpascotussupreme courtused nuclear fuelyucca mountainShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Building radiation-resistant and repairable electronicsANS Nuclear CafeResearch & ApplicationsOctober 6, 2020, 9:38AM|Nuclear News StaffCMOS sensors such as this could be made more tolerant to ionizing radiation. Photo: NASA/Wikimedia CommonsHigh-energy radiation can be detrimental to electronic equipment, necessitating the use of radiation-hardened and -resistant electronics in nuclear energy, decommissioning, and space exploration. The online newsletter Tech Xplore reports on a radiation-hardened and repairable integrated circuit being fabricated by researchers at Peking University, Shanghai Tech University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.The radiation-immune and repairable circuits developed by the researchers are based on field-effect transistors (FET) that use a semiconducting carbon nanotube transistor as a channel, an ion gel as its gate, and a substrate made of polyimide. According to the article, the FETs have a radiation tolerance of up to 15 Mrad, which is notably higher than the 1 Mrad tolerance of silicon-based transistors. The FETs are also capable of being recovered by annealing at moderate temperatures (100 °C for 10 minutes).ExpandTags:around the webelectronicsionizing radiationresearch and applicationsShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Report weighs prospects for aging High Flux Isotope ReactorANS Nuclear CafeResearch & ApplicationsOctober 5, 2020, 7:00AM|Nuclear News StaffRoutine refueling of the HFIR in July 2015. Photo: Genevieve Martin/ORNLThis summer, the Department of Energy’s Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) completed a report, The Scientific Justification for a U.S. Domestic High-Performance Reactor-Based Research Facility, that recommends the DOE begin preparing to replace the pressure vessel of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and to convert the facility to use low-enriched uranium fuel. It also recommends that work begin that could lead to a new research reactor. An article published on the American Institute of Physics website summarizes the report, which was requested by the DOE in 2019.ExpandTags:american institute of physicsbesacdoehigh flux isotope reactorornlShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Newest Russian icebreaker ready to hit the iceANS Nuclear CafeResearch & ApplicationsOctober 1, 2020, 6:58AM|Nuclear News StaffThe Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika. Photo: RosatomThe Arktika, Russia’s latest nuclear-powered icebreaker, sailed from the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg last week, bound for the Murmansk seaport. The voyage is scheduled to take approximately two weeks, during which time the vessel will be tested “in ice conditions,” according to Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned atomic energy corporation.ExpandTags:arktikanuclear icebreakerrosatomShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Brouillette: Nuclear should be part of California’s energy problem solutionANS Nuclear CafePower & OperationsSeptember 30, 2020, 3:00PM|Nuclear News StaffBrouilletteIn an op-ed published on September 25 in the Orange County Register, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette decryed the state of California’s handling of its energy crisis.Brouillette criticized state leaders for championing a 100 percent renewable energy plan that ignores nuclear and natural gas. He also found fault with the plan to prematurely close the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.ExpandTags:brouillettecaliforniaclean energydiablo canyondoenuclear energyparis climate accordShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Nuclear power: Are we too anxious about the risks of radiation?ANS Nuclear CafePower & OperationsSeptember 30, 2020, 11:59AM|Nuclear News StaffRowlattFollowing U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent restatement of the United Kingdom’s commitment to nuclear power, BBC News chief environment correspondent, Justin Rowlatt, wrote an article aimed at separating fact from fiction regarding the safety and benefits of nuclear energy.Among his points, Rowlatt defended the use of nuclear power to combat climate change, examined the data behind deaths from radiation exposure directly caused by the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents, and explained that exposure to low levels of radiation is not a major health risk.ExpandTags:around the webbbc newschernobylclimate changefukushimanuclear energyradiationShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
JPP lays out SPARC fusion physics basisANS Nuclear CafeResearch & ApplicationsSeptember 30, 2020, 9:45AM|Nuclear News StaffCutaway of the SPARC engineering design. Image: CFS/MIT-PSFC, CAD Rendering by T. HendersonA special issue of the Journal of Plasma Physics gives a glimpse into the physics basis for SPARC, the DT-burning tokamak being designed by a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The special issue was announced in a September 29 post on the Cambridge University Press blog Cambridge Core.The special JPP issue includes seven peer-reviewed articles on the SPARC concept, which takes advantage of recent breakthroughs in high-temperature superconductor technology to burn plasma in a compact tokamak design.ExpandTags:commonwealth fusion systemsfusionjournal of plasma physicsmitsparcShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
The Netherlands mulls more nuclear energyANS Nuclear CafePower & OperationsSeptember 30, 2020, 7:00AM|Nuclear News StaffThe government of the Netherlands has released a report, Possible Role of Nuclear in the Dutch Energy Mix in the Future, that answers in the affirmative the question of whether nuclear energy can play an important role in the country’s future energy mix.The report, released this month by Enco, an Austrian energy research group, was commissioned by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.The Netherlands currently has one nuclear power facility supplying the grid—the Borssele plant, which houses a 482-MWe two-loop pressurized water reactor that entered commercial operation in 1973.ExpandTags:borsseleenconetherlandsvreShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
A look back at 1984 U.K. spent fuel flask testANS Nuclear CafeTransportationSeptember 29, 2020, 9:32AM|Nuclear News StaffThe government of the United Kingdom conducted a series of tests in the 1980s to assess the robustness of spent nuclear fuel packages. One such test involved ramming a 140-ton diesel locomotive into a transportation canister, called a nuclear flask, at 100 miles per hour. The test, according to a recent article published by the online magazine The Drive, was a “smashing” success. Just 0.29 psi of pressure escaped the 50-ton test flask, which had been pressurized to 100 psi.ExpandTags:magnoxspent nuclear fueltransportationu.k.Share:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Labor union leader weighs in on closure of Illinois nuclear plantsANS Nuclear CafePower & OperationsSeptember 28, 2020, 11:59AM|Nuclear News StaffLonnie Stephenson, international president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, wrote an op-ed published in the September 25 Chicago Sun-Times touting the benefits of nuclear power in Illinois and decrying Exelon’s plan to prematurely shutter the Byron and Dresden plants.ExpandTags:around the webbyronclean energydresdenexelonillinois power plantsShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
A last look at Fort Belvoir’s SM-1 reactorANS Nuclear CafeWaste ManagementSeptember 25, 2020, 12:02PM|Radwaste Solutions StaffA series of photos published by the Washingtonian on September 22 capture rarely seen images of Fort Belvoir’s SM-1 reactor, the U.S. Army’s first nuclear reactor and the first facility in the United States to provide nuclear-generated power to the commercial grid for a sustained period. These images may be some of the last photos of SM-1, as crews are set to begin decommissioning and dismantling the nuclear facility early next year. ExpandTags:around the webd&ddecommissioningfort belvoirsm-1Share:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Holtec files lawsuits over Oyster Creek D&DANS Nuclear CafeWaste ManagementSeptember 24, 2020, 8:30AM|Radwaste Solutions StaffHoltec International recently filed two lawsuits against a New Jersey planning board that is attempting to hold up the decontamination and decommissioning of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, the Courier Post reported on September 18.ExpandTags:decommissioningholtecoyster creekwaste managementShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Salary growth rate for nuclear engineers among highestANS Nuclear CafeSeptember 21, 2020, 3:02PM|Nuclear News StaffNuclear engineers have the second-fastest growing salaries among six-figure earners, according to a recent study from AdvisorSmith, a business insurance resource company.ExpandTags:nuclear engineerssalarystemShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Washington State utility says, “No more wind”ANS Nuclear CafePower & OperationsSeptember 21, 2020, 11:51AM|ANS StaffAn article published over the weekend in the Tacoma News Tribune reports that the Benton Public Utility District in Kennewick, Wash., is saying no to more wind farms. Even though utilities are moving to decarbonize the grid, a report from the Benton PUD says that more wind farms “will contribute very little to keeping the regional power grid reliable and will not help Benton PUD solve our seasonal energy deficit problems.”ExpandTags:benton public utility districtgridgrid instabilitynatural gassmrtacoma news tribunethe news tribunewind generationwind turbineShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
The First Nuclear Textbook?ANS Nuclear CafeJune 5, 2020, 6:03PM|Will DavisYesterday, we had one of the nicer yet stranger events during this wholly strange time - that is, the meeting of the American Nuclear Society's Book Publishing Committee, of which yours truly is the Vice Chair. I say "nicer" because I always look forward to these meetings, given the opportunity they afford to interact with some of ANS' finest people and the fact that these meetings really get things done. I say "stranger" because it was a Zoom meeting and not face to face, around a table. What's even more impacting for me is the fact that the BPC meeting usually is the first event I attend at ANS' Annual and Winter meetings and it serves, thus, as the best possible kickoff for me. November, maybe. Maybe.Go to ArticleShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Closer Than We ThinkANS Nuclear CafeMay 22, 2020, 2:35PM|Will DavisI'm writing this on National Maritime Day 2020, a day in which we think of and thank all those who have worked on the water moving people and things. Our nation's maritime history isn't as long as that of some other nations but it has been rich and, worldwide, significant. We've contributed a number of "firsts."Go to ArticleShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Argonne's Experimental Boiling Water Reactor in FilmANS Nuclear CafeMay 12, 2020, 5:16PM|Will DavisThe second of our special series covering documentaries of early US reactors is this very thoroughly set up and filmed documentary on the Experimental Boiling Water Reactor, produced by Argonne National Laboratory.Go to ArticleShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
The Day Tomorrow BeganANS Nuclear CafeMay 8, 2020, 4:12PM|Will DavisOur matinee feature this week is a film produced by Argonne National Laboratory, entitled "Chicago Pile 1: The Day Tomorrow Began." This is the film history, from the official source, of the effort to design, construct and operate what became the first chain-reacting atomic pile in history.Go to ArticleShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
ANS Nuclear Cafe Friday Matinee - SNAP-10A in Space!ANS Nuclear CafeApril 24, 2020, 4:12PM|Will DavisWith talk of the Coronavirus permeating every outlet and venue it might be good to take, at least shortly, a simple side trip for the purpose of distraction. And that side trip today is a look at an official AEC film documenting "The First Nuclear Reactor In Space: SNAP 10A."Go to ArticleShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook