Tag

Nuclear Power

All articles tagged with #nuclear power

world9 days ago•2 min saved

Drone strike sparks fire at UAE Barakah nuclear plant amid regional tensions

A drone strike hit the perimeter of the UAE's Barakah nuclear power plant, causing a fire but with no injuries or radiological release. Three drones reportedly entered from the west; two were intercepted and the third struck an electrical generator outside the inner perimeter. Investigations are underway. The IAEA chief urged maximum restraint near nuclear sites, while UAE regulators said the fire did not affect safety and all units are operating normally as regional tensions with Iran persist.

via politico.eu|

#barakah #drone-attack #iran-tensions

world1 month ago•17 min saved

Forty years on, Chernobyl’s shadow still shapes families’ lives

Forty years after the Chernobyl disaster, residents evacuated from Pripyat and surrounding areas recount losing their homes, livelihoods and loved ones, the long-lasting health and environmental toll, and a pervasive fear as new conflicts threaten nuclear sites and raise fears of a repeat catastrophe.

via The Independent|

#chernobyl #nuclear-power #pripyat

environment1 month ago•6 min saved

Chernobyl’s wild sanctuary reshapes the nuclear debate

Forty years after the Chernobyl disaster, the exclusion zone remains heavily contaminated, but wildlife populations—from wolves and elk to roe and deer—flourish in the absence of humans, prompting a debate over nuclear power’s environmental trade-offs. While some scientists argue the area shows how ecosystems rebound when human pressure fades, others caution about potential genetic damage in certain species and warn against reviving nuclear energy amid safety and geopolitical risks. The discussion echoes debates sparked by Fukushima and the Korean DMZ, with broad implications for climate goals and energy security.

via The Guardian|

#chernobyl #environment #nogozone

politics1 month ago•31 min saved

Paris Agreement: a Mirage, Argues UnHerd Op-Ed

An UnHerd opinion piece argues the Paris Agreement and the net-zero agenda were overhyped fantasies that did not deliver the feared climate catastrophes or energy crises; it claims Europe’s energy demand declined due to economic stagnation, disputes the dire climate predictions, and advocates a pragmatic shift toward nuclear power while criticizing wind/solar reliance and Western climate activism.

via UnHerd|

#climate-policy #energy-policy #net-zero

politics1 month ago•61 min saved

Trump Pushes Space Nuclear Power, Aiming Orbit By 2028 and Moon Surface by 2030

President Trump directed NASA, the Department of Energy, and the Pentagon to run competitions to design space nuclear reactors for both orbit and the Moon, targeting a demonstration by 2028 and lunar deployment by 2030 as part of a plan for lunar power to support a permanent base and future Mars missions; experts say the timeline is aggressive and challenging, with no comment from the White House on progress.

via The Daily Beast|

#artemis-ii #donald-j-trump #moon

technology1 month ago•5 min saved

US Plans Nuclear Reactors in Space to Power Moon Missions by 2030

The White House announced NASA, with the DoD and DOE, will develop modular space reactors to provide continuous power for a lunar base and propulsion, aiming for a 2028 orbiting reactor and a large surface reactor by 2030, with a roadmap to address fuel, safety, and manufacturing while competing contractors advance the tech amid US-China space competition.

via WIRED|

#defense #lunar-exploration #nasa

space2 months ago•5 min saved

Dragonfly Gets Real: Ground Tests Kick Off for Titan Pathfinder

NASA has begun testing the nuclear-powered Dragonfly rotorcraft for its 2028 Titan mission, validating core systems and aerodynamics in a cleanroom and wind tunnels, and aiming to make Dragonfly the first rotorcraft to fly Titan’s thick, frigid, nitrogen-rich atmosphere while studying its chemistry and potential habitability.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#dragonfly #nasa #nuclear-power

space2 months ago•4 min saved

NASA Sets Sights on a Permanent Moon Base Powered by Water and Nuclear Energy

NASA outlines a plan to establish a permanent Moon base at the south pole, leveraging water ice for drinking water and rocket fuel, and powering the habitat with nuclear reactors to endure the long lunar night, supported by robotic precursor missions and international cooperation, with a target of deploying a lunar surface reactor by 2030 and expanding habitats over time.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#lunar-base #moon #nasa

space-exploration2 months ago•55 min saved

NASA advances Dragonfly, a nuclear-powered Titan drone aimed for 2028

NASA has begun building and testing Dragonfly, a nuclear-powered rotorcraft that will explore Titan’s atmosphere and surface. After months of integration and power/instrument testing at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Dragonfly is on track for a 2028 launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, with further system testing at Lockheed Martin and Kennedy Space Center to study Titan’s chemistry, geology and potential clues to life.

via Space|

#dragonfly #nasa #nuclear-power

technology2 months ago•9 min saved

DIIS: A 1990s Hybrid Upgrade for Chornobyl NPP

In the 1990s, the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant modernized its remaining RBMK reactors not by a full rebuild of the Soviet-era mainframe, but by wrapping a new auxiliary information-measurement system (DIIS) around the 1970s SKALA mainframe. The upgrade linked a Ukrainian SM-1210 minicomputer and an ARCnet-connected 80386 PC to run real-time reactor-core modeling and visualization via the PRIZMA program, letting data stay local instead of being sent to Moscow. Unit 2 operated until 1991 (turbine fire), Unit 1 until 1996, and Unit 3 until 2000, yielding a pragmatic, hybrid upgrade that pushed the plant toward 21st-century capabilities.

via Hackaday|

#chornobyl #diis #nuclear-power

health2 months ago•2 min saved

Proximity to Nuclear Plants Linked to Higher Cancer Mortality, Study Finds

A Harvard-led study published in Nature Communications finds that U.S. counties closer to operating nuclear power plants have higher cancer mortality than those farther away, even after adjusting for factors like income, race, BMI, smoking, and hospital access. The researchers estimate about 115,000 cancer deaths (roughly 6,400 per year) may be associated with proximity to plants from 2000–2018, though they caution that correlation does not prove causation and call for more research into exposure pathways as nuclear energy policy seeks expansion.

via Gizmodo|

#cancer #environment #epidemiology

business3 months ago•8 min saved

Beard leads world's biggest energy lender to accelerate U.S. power, grid resilience

Gregory Beard has taken over the DOE's Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF), the world's largest energy lender with about $289 billion in loan authority, and is steering a rapid, results-focused expansion after a Biden-era turnaround that canceled or restructured roughly $83.6 billion in loans to prioritize affordability and reliability. The EDF will focus on six areas—nuclear; coal, oil, gas and hydrocarbons; critical minerals; geothermal; grid and transmission; manufacturing and transport—and aims to deploy a wave of loans (including potentially the largest ever), with EDF able to fund up to 80% of project costs for nuclear. The goal is to boost domestic generation, shore up the grid, and reduce China’s dominance over critical minerals while refinancing or building new capacity to lower power costs.

via CNBC|

#business #doe #energy-dominance-financing

space4 months ago•5 min saved

Russia Tests Plasma Engine Aimed at Months-Long Mars Trips

Russian researchers at Rosatom’s Troitsk Institute are testing a 300 kW plasma propulsion system that accelerates hydrogen with an onboard nuclear reactor, potentially cutting Mars travel time to about one to two months; current ground tests report exhaust speeds up to 100 km/s, roughly 6 N thrust, and a 2,400-hour service life, but the system has not yet flown or undergone peer review, and deployment depends on further testing, funding, and regulatory approvals toward a 2030 timeframe.

via Indian Defence Review|

#hydrogen-fuel #mars-mission #nuclear-power

world4 months ago•2 min saved

Japan pauses world's largest nuclear plant hours after restart

Japan suspended operations at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the world's largest by capacity, just hours after restarting reactor six when an alarm sounded during start-up; Tepco says the reactor is stable with no radiological impact outside the plant and is investigating the cause. The seventh reactor is not expected to resume until 2030, and five other reactors could be decommissioned, leaving far less capacity than before Fukushima.

via BBC|

#fukushima-disaster #japan #kashiwazaki-kariwa

world4 months ago•7 min saved

Restart setback: TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactor shuts down hours after restart

A reactor at TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture was restarted but shut down again within hours, underscoring ongoing operational challenges at one of Japan’s largest nuclear facilities.

via AP News|

#japan #kashiwazaki-kariwa #nuclear-power