On March 31-April 1, Nuclear Energy Insider held its 4th Annual Small Modular Reactor (SMR) conference in Charlotte, NC (following on the 2nd ANS SMR Conference in November 2013-for notes and report from that embedded topical meeting, see here).
There has been an increasing amount of press lately about the growing number of nations on the African continent interested in exploring the benefits of nuclear energy. South Africa has led the way in this realm, having had operational nuclear power for many years. Kenya plans to follow next.
The 203rd Nuclear Energy Blogger Carnival has been posted at Thorium MSR. You can click here to see this latest installment in a long running tradition among the top English language pro-nuclear bloggers and authors.
Near Augusta, Georgia, the first new commercial nuclear power reactors built in the United States in 30 years continue to take shape. This latest video update features the recent heavy lift of the massive 5-story CA20 module, which will house the spent fuel pool, fuel transfer canal, and other essential components for Unit 3. The video also features a visit by US Secretary of Energy Dr. Ernest Moniz, day-to-day problem-solving operations at the site's operations control center (especially during recent unusually cold weather), and the immeasurable beneficial economic and other impacts on the region's economy and school systems. Fuel loading and connection to the grid is scheduled for Unit 3 in 2017, and Unit 4 in 2018.
The American Nuclear Society's Center for Nuclear Science and Technology Information will sponsor a full-day teacher workshop on Saturday, June 14, at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. The workshop-Detecting Radiation in Our Radioactive World-is for science educators, including biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, physical science, life science, environmental, general science, and elementary teachers. The workshop will be held the day before the beginning of the ANS Annual Meeting in Reno.
The 202nd Nuclear Energy Blogger Carnival has been posted at Next Big Future. You can click here to see this latest installment in a long running tradition among the top English language pro-nuclear bloggers and authors.
This excerpt from the Discovery Channel's How It's Made series documents the making of a spent nuclear fuel container.
Earlier this month, the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) published its annual survey on nuclear engineering enrollment and degrees (check out the full report here). The 2013 data shows enrollment and the number of graduates in nuclear engineering programs along with a survey of where students are working after graduation.
Thirty-five years ago this week, a nuclear reactor located on an island in the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, suffered a partial core melt.
The 201st Nuclear Energy Blogger Carnival has been posted at The Hiroshima Syndrome. You can click here to see the latest installment in a long running tradition among the top English language pro-nuclear bloggers and authors.
Don Miley of Idaho National Laboratory leads a highly enjoyable and thought-provoking tour through the images, perceptions, and yes, the reality of 'nuclear' and nuclear energy research through history.
Hallam Nuclear Power Facility; part of Sheldon Station.
In our previous installment we looked at the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Five Year Plan for development of commercial nuclear power in the United States. In this final installment, we'll look at two programs that were initiated in the mid-1950s to help launch the era of construction of commercial power reactors-the Civilian Application Program, and the Power Demonstration Reactor Program.
At this site in January, I made the case that there is significant and persistent prejudice against nuclear power among both the public and policymakers. In February, I discussed several approaches to ameliorating nuclear's current and future problems (which are largely due to said prejudice) and the limitations of each approach. This month, I will explore one last possible option: challenging the biased and unfair treatment of nuclear under current policies and regulation-in court.
The 200th Nuclear Energy Blogger Carnival has been posted at Atomic Power Review. You can click here to see the latest installment in a long running tradition among the top English language pro-nuclear bloggers and authors.
The world's first Westinghouse AP1000 pressurized water reactor is scheduled to begin operation later this year at the Sanmen Nuclear Power Station in China. Another AP1000 is scheduled to go online later this year at the Haiyang nuclear power plant in China, with two more AP1000 units to be operational at those sites in 2015, and four additional to follow after that.
During the three years since March 11, 2011, the world has had the opportunity to learn a number of challenging but necessary lessons about the commercial use of nuclear energy. Without diminishing the seriousness of the events in any way, Fukushima should also be considered a teachable moment that continues to be open for thought and consideration.
Tokyo Electric Power Company's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Station; Units 6 and 7 were submitted for safety screening in September 2013.
In our collective memory, disturbing images played out on video around the world in the days following the apocalyptic Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami have somewhat receded, even if they haven't lost their impact-images of rushing waters, floating vehicles, buildings and debris, massive (and unstoppable) outbreaks of fire, and implications of lives lost and lives ruined.
ANS Nuclear Cafe is proud to host the 199th edition of the Nuclear Energy Blogger Carnival - a long standing tradition among the top English-language pro-nuclear bloggers and authors. The top news and views of the week appear in a rotating fashion each week at one of the top pro-nuclear blogs. With that, let's get to the entries from this week.
"It is time to make the case for science," says host Neil deGrasse Tyson of the upcoming relaunch of the classic 1980 series Cosmos. The new Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey premieres this Sunday, March 9, on FOX, and Monday, March 10, on the National Geographic Network-all in all, in 170 countries and 45 languages, the largest global opening ever for any television series, according to executive producer, writer, and director Ann Druyan.
