Small Nuclear Reactors

Nuclear plants could become smaller, simpler and easier to build in the future, potentially revolutionizing a power source that is increasingly viewed as critical to the transition away from fossil fuels.

New designs called small modular reactors, or SMR in shorthand, promise to speed deployment of new plants as demand for clean electricity is rising from artificial intelligence, manufacturing and electric vehicles.

At the same time, utilities across the country are retiring coal plants as part of the energy transition, raising worries about a looming electricity supply gap. Nuclear power is viewed as a potential solution because it is the most reliable power source available and does not emit carbon dioxide.

Building large plants is very costly and time-consuming. In Georgia, Southern Co. built the first new nuclear reactors in decades, but the project finished seven years behind schedule at a cost of more than $30 billion.     READ  MORE...

Nuclear Power Breakthrough

The United Kingdom is leading the world in nuclear fusion energy power plant design, according to a report by The Royal Society. The special edition report details the progress achieved by the spherical tokamak for energy production (STEP).

The STEP program aims to design and build the UK’s first prototype fusion energy plant. The report presents the technology needed for the prototype and also presents the steps needed for integrating it with the power plant for producing energy from fusion.

One of the unique aspects of the program is that it also considers decommissioning as a part of the design.

UK’s STEP for nuclear fusion
STEP is scheduled to be built at the former coal-fired power station site of West Burton, Nottinghamshire. Ground and environment surveys are underway for the project and first operation is expected to begin in early 2040s.

The program aims for the formation of an integrated delivery organization based on a public-private partnership model that will deliver the prototype plant. This includes designing for cost, and at pace.     READ MORE...

Nuclear Reactor Breakthrough

The US has set a target to produce 100 percent of its electricity using renewable energy sources by 2035, and nuclear power will play a major role in its clean energy transition.

About 20 percent of all the electricity produced in the US already comes from nuclear power plants. However, this isn’t enough. If the country wants to become a leader in the clean energy space, it needs to boost its nuclear energy program and make its nuclear plants more efficient than ever.

A big issue with nuclear reactors is their dependency on nickel-based alloys, which are expensive and are abundantly found in countries (like Russia, Indonesia, Philippines) that are not always on good terms with the US. Moreover, the high moisture content of nickel ore poses transport challenges as well.

Addressing these issues, a team of researchers from Department of Energy‘s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory (AGL) have developed a framework to find material that could replace these nickel-based alloys. Using their framework, the AGL team identified and tested some promising materials.

In fact, the researchers have identified a new material that can successfully endure intense radiation testing and withstand extreme reactor conditions for extended periods.      READ MORE...

Changing the Future of Nuclear Power

In an exciting step toward a cleaner energy future, the world's first coal-to-nuclear power plant has broken ground in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

This innovative project, led by Bill Gates' company TerraPower, is set to be the most advanced nuclear facility on the planet, according to Electrek and a recent appearance by Gates on Face the Nation.


The Natrium demonstration plant will be a fully functioning commercial power plant, designed to be much safer and produce far less waste than conventional nuclear reactors.

What's more, it's being built on the site of a retiring coal plant, with plans to hire many of the skilled workers from the old facility.

This groundbreaking project has the potential to be a real win-win for the community and the environment. Not only will it provide 200-250 long-term jobs, but at the peak of construction, it will create 1,600 jobs, giving a major boost to the local economy.

Even better, the Natrium plant is designed to work seamlessly with renewable energy sources. It features a unique molten salt-based storage system that allows it to ramp up power output when needed, such as during peak demand times or when the sun isn't shining and wind isn't blowing.      READ MORE...

Limitless Energy is Possible

Editor’s note: “Nuclear Power Breakthrough Makes “Limitless” Energy Possible” was previously published in May 2023. It has since been updated to include the most relevant information available.

For a moment, imagine a world of limitless energy – one where energy is so abundant that everyone can power their homes and businesses for mere pennies.

These days, it’s tough to imagine a world like that. Last winter, the average U.S. heating bill was $1,000.

But thanks to a potential world-changing scientific breakthrough, the ostensibly utopian world of limitless energy could soon become a reality.

Prescient investors who place the right bets on the right stocks in this industry could mint fortunes over the next few years.

That’s why both Microsoft (MSFT) – the world’s second-most valuable company – and ChatGPT’s creator Sam Altman are both betting big on this very limitless energy breakthrough right now.

Just last week, Microsoft announced a huge deal to start buying a ton of this limitless energy as soon as 2028.

Interested? You should be…

We’re talking about arguably the biggest scientific breakthrough of our lifetimes. And it could be the biggest investment opportunity of our lifetimes, too.

And it all has to do with nuclear power.
The Power of the Sun

Nuclear power has a bad reputation – and I get it. It has been used to create bombs that have decimated cities and destroyed lives. And when the world tried to capture that power in nuclear power plants, it often ended in catastrophe. And not once, not twice, but time and time again.

Nuclear power deserves its bad rep.

However, not all nuclear power is created equal.

Specifically, there are two types: nuclear fusion and nuclear fission.

To date, everything achieved with nuclear power has revolved around nuclear fission. That involves splitting apart atoms to capture and use the energy produced from the division.

And it’s a very risky and dangerous science for two big reasons.

First, splitting atoms creates chain reactions that must be controlled very carefully. Otherwise, they could cause meltdowns and explosions. Second, fission produces radioactive waste, which needs to be stored correctly to avoid contaminating the surrounding environment.

Nuclear fission is dangerous stuff.

But nuclear fusion is not.

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Batteries Powered by Nuclear Waste

Nuclear power is considered a clean energy source because it has zero carbon dioxide emissions; yet, at the same time, it produces massive amounts of hazardous, radioactive waste that pile up as more and more reactors are built around the world.

Experts have proposed different solutions for this issue in order to take better care of the environment and people’s health. With insufficient safe storage space for nuclear waste disposal, the focal point of these ideas is the reutilization of the materials.

Radioactive diamond batteries were first developed in 2016 and were immediately acclaimed because they promised a new, cost-effective way of recycling nuclear waste. In this context, it’s unavoidable to deliberate whether they’re the ultimate solution to these toxic, lethal residues.

What Are Radioactive Diamond Batteries?
Radioactive diamond batteries were first developed by a team of physicists and chemists from the Cabot Institute for the Environment of the University of Bristol. The invention was presented as a betavoltaic device, which means that it’s powered by the beta decay of nuclear waste.

Beta decay is a type of radioactive decay that occurs when an atom’s nucleus has an excess of particles and releases some of them to obtain a more stable ratio of protons to neutrons. This produces a kind of ionizing radiation called beta radiation, which involves a lot of high-speed and high-energy electrons or positrons known as beta particles.  READ MORE...

Iran Wants US to Lift Sanctions

VIENNA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday that talks in Vienna on reviving Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers cannot succeed unless the United States is prepared to lift sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Reuters reported last week that a U.S.-Iranian deal is taking shape in Vienna after months of indirect talks to revive a pact Washington abandoned in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump. read more

"The United States must prove its will to lift major sanctions," Raisi said in a joint news conference with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Doha.  "To reach an agreement, guarantees are necessary for negotiations and nuclear issues."

The draft text of the agreement also alluded to other issues, including unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian funds in South Korean banks, and the release ,of Western prisoners held in Iran.

"Aggression is bound to fail. Resistance has brought results and none of the regional issues have a military solution," Raisi said.  Raisi was more cautious than Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh, who said earlier that the Vienna negotiations had made "significant progress".

Khatibzadeh also said that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" in the Vienna talks. "The remaining issues are the hardest," he told a weekly press briefing.  READ MORE...

China's Nuclear Reaactor

The demonstration high-temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble-bed module (HTR-PM) at the Shidaowan site in Shandong Province of China was connected to the grid in December 2021. Courtesy: China Nuclear Energy Association


Grid-connection of Unit 1 at the “national project” at the Shidao Bay site (Figure 2) in Rongcheng, Shandong Province, will be soon followed by Unit 2. When commercially operational as expected in mid-2022, the two HTR-PMs will drive a single 210-MWe steam turbine. 

Construction of the pioneering project began in December 2012, led by China Huaneng (which holds a 47.5% stake in the demonstration), along with China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) subsidiary China Nuclear Engineering Corp. (CNEC, 32.5%), and Tsinghua University’s Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (20%). Chinergy, a joint venture between Tsinghua and CNEC, served as the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for the nuclear island.
Decades of Development

As Tsinghua’s Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology has noted, the demonstration project stems from a series of developments that marked a “qualitative leap from laboratory to engineering application.” High-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) technology has been explored for decades. 

China’s own HTGR research and development program kicked off in the mid-1970s, echoing similar government-led initiatives to develop the 200-MWth HTR-module of the Siemens/Interatom Co. in Germany, and General Atomics’ 350-MWth modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor MHTGR in the U.S.

China’s research institutions eventually accomplished the construction of the HTR-10 test reactor in the late 1990s. In February 2008, China approved the 200-MWe HTR-PM demonstration plant as part of its slate of National Major Science and Technology Projects. 

As Tsinghua noted, the government then anticipated the technology would prove to be “a highly efficient nuclear power technology, as a supplement to pressurized water reactor [PWR] technology.” Chinese researchers also heralded the technology’s high-heat potential, as well as the opportunity to further global innovation in advanced nuclear technologies. A key focus was to improve nuclear safety inherently. READ MORE...

Japan's Blue Hydrogen

Activists looking out over Tokyo Bay at a new coal-fired power station under construction


It's a glorious autumn afternoon and I'm standing on a hillside looking out over Tokyo Bay. Beside me is Takao Saiki, a usually mild-mannered gentleman in his 70s.  But today Saiki-San is angry.  "It's a total joke," he says, in perfect English. "Just ridiculous!"

The cause of his distress is a giant construction site blocking our view across the bay - a 1.3-gigawatt coal-fired power station in the making.


"I don't understand why we still have to burn coal to generate electricity," says Saiki-San's friend, Rikuro Suzuki. "This plant alone will emit more than seven million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year!"


Suzuki-San's point is a good one. Shouldn't Japan be cutting its coal consumption, not increasing it, at a time of great concern about coal's impact on the climate?  So why the coal? The answer is the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.


In 2010 about one third of Japan's electricity came from nuclear power, and there were plans to build a lot more. But then the 2011 disaster hit, and all Japan's nuclear power plants were shut down. Ten years later most remain closed - and there is a lot of resistance to restarting them.  READ MORE...