https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Engineers must manage a maelstrom in the core of operating nuclear reactors. Nuclear reactions deposit an extraordinary amount of heat in the fuel rods, setting off a frenzy of boiling, bubbling, and evaporation in surrounding fluid. From this churning flow, operators harness the removal of heat. https://phys.org/news/2019-04-high-fidelity-simulations-optimizing-current-next-generation.html General Physics Tue, 23 Apr 2019 08:21:38 EDT news475226487 A team led by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a safer cladding for nuclear fuel rods. https://phys.org/news/2018-04-custom-designed-alloy-nuclear-safety.html Energy & Green Tech Fri, 13 Apr 2018 17:35:53 EDT news442859745 Spent nuclear fuel needs to be safely transported from the power plants where it is generated to interim storage locations and eventually to a permanent geologic disposal site. https://phys.org/news/2018-03-road-rail-boat-sandia-triathlon.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 13 Mar 2018 17:33:19 EDT news440181177 Workers at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have installed a device to remove nuclear fuel from a meltdown-hit reactor nearly seven years after the crisis was sparked by a tsunami, a spokesman said Monday. https://phys.org/news/2017-11-fuel-device-meltdown-hit-fukushima-reactor.html Energy & Green Tech Mon, 13 Nov 2017 03:08:09 EST news429764877 Greenpeace activists set off fireworks inside a nuclear plant in eastern France early Thursday after breaking into the facility to underline its vulnerability to attack. https://phys.org/news/2017-10-greenpeace-fireworks-french-nuclear-safety.html Energy & Green Tech Thu, 12 Oct 2017 08:41:30 EDT news427016483 A new method for capturing radioactive waste from nuclear power plants is cheaper and more effective than current methods, a potential boon for the energy industry, according to new research published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2017-10-molecular-radioactive-nuclear-fuel-rods.html Materials Science Thu, 05 Oct 2017 11:01:40 EDT news426420091 Japan's government approved a revised road map Tuesday to clean up the radioactive mess left at the Fukushima nuclear power plant after it was damaged beyond repair by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Decommissioning the damaged reactors is an uncertain process that is expected to take 30 to 40 years. https://phys.org/news/2017-09-multiple-fukushima-nuclear-cleanup.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 26 Sep 2017 10:20:02 EDT news425639640 Workers this weekend finished installing a protective cover over a partially-collapsed tunnel that contained radioactive waste on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the U.S. Department of Energy said Monday. https://phys.org/news/2017-05-crews-partially-collapsed-tunnel-nuclear-site.html Energy & Green Tech Mon, 22 May 2017 14:38:58 EDT news414682733 Physicists from Tomsk Polytechnic University are creating protective titanium nitride-based coatings for shells of fuel elements (fuel rods) of nuclear reactors. Such shells can significantly reduce hydrogenation of containers holding nuclear fuel, extend their service life and prevent reactor explosions such as the Fukushima disaster. https://phys.org/news/2017-05-coatings-nuclear-fuel-explosions-reactors.html Materials Science Tue, 16 May 2017 05:23:52 EDT news414131020 Nearly 100 commercial nuclear reactors supply one-fifth of America's energy. For each fuel rod in a reactor assembly, only 5 percent of its energy is consumed before fission can no longer be sustained efficiently for power production and the fuel assembly must be replaced. Power plants currently store the used fuel on-site. Information on the composition of the used fuel is essential for the design of safe storage, transportation and final repository facilities and for inspection and verification to safeguard nuclear materials. Improved accuracy in prediction of the spent fuel isotopic composition leads to increased efficiency in the facility designs and higher confidence in the safeguard protocols.    https://phys.org/news/2016-03-benchmark-validates-global-nuclear-reactor.html Energy & Green Tech Thu, 10 Mar 2016 08:30:02 EST news376817314 Federal authorities have canceled the first of two proposed research shipments of spent nuclear fuel to eastern Idaho but still hope to deliver the second. https://phys.org/news/2015-10-feds-cancel-shipment-spent-nuclear.html Energy & Green Tech Fri, 23 Oct 2015 18:55:17 EDT news364845306 One of four heavily damaged reactor buildings at Japan's tsunami-battered Fukushima nuclear power plant has been cleared of radioactive fuel rods, the operator said Saturday. https://phys.org/news/2014-12-fukushima-reactors-nuclear-fuel.html Energy & Green Tech Sat, 20 Dec 2014 11:19:39 EST news338296770 Taiwan on Tuesday unveiled plans to process c abroad for the first time as its power plants reach capacity—but environment groups slammed the proposal as "too risky". https://phys.org/news/2014-10-taiwan-reveals-nuclear.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 14 Oct 2014 10:50:01 EDT news332501713 The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant Tuesday offered the first glimpse of the operation to remove its fuel rods, the most dangerous job since the runaway reactors were brought under control two years ago. https://phys.org/news/2013-11-fukushima-glimpse-fuel-rod.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 19 Nov 2013 15:10:01 EST news304095177 Japan's nuclear watchdog on Monday urged "bold and drastic" action to fix problems with radioactive water at Fukushima, as it warned of the growing risks over coming months. https://phys.org/news/2013-10-japan-nuclear-watchdog-urges-bold.html Energy & Green Tech Mon, 28 Oct 2013 04:16:15 EDT news302152565 James Bond uses a laser beam to cut through windows and walls, but scientists at the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) are using a new laser that can melt metal. https://phys.org/news/2013-08-laser-benefit-nuclear-recycling.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 27 Aug 2013 08:10:02 EDT news296808637 In the aftermath of Japan's earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was initially driven into shutdown by the magnitude 9.0 quake; its emergency generators then failed because they were inundated by the tsunami. But the greatest damage to the complex, and the greatest release of radiation, may have been caused by explosions of hydrogen gas that built up inside some of the reactors. https://phys.org/news/2013-07-nuclear-fuel-rod-cladding-safer-power.html Energy & Green Tech Thu, 25 Jul 2013 11:50:01 EDT news293970840 North Korea's weapons program is not the only nuclear headache for South Korea. The country's radioactive waste storage is filling up as its nuclear power industry burgeons, but what South Korea sees as its best solution—reprocessing the spent fuel so it can be used again—faces stiff opposition from its U.S. ally. https://phys.org/news/2013-03-nuclear-headache-skorea.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 26 Mar 2013 07:19:22 EDT news283501145 Engineers at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant partially succeeded Tuesday in restarting cooling systems after a power cut underlined its still-precarious state two years after a tsunami struck. https://phys.org/news/2013-03-crippled-japan-nuclear-power.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 19 Mar 2013 07:55:32 EDT news282898525 Photos and mementoes that were snatched up and blown hundreds of miles during tornados in the south of the United States two years ago are giving researchers new insight on how debris is carried by the storms and how it could threaten the public. https://phys.org/news/2013-03-tornado-debris.html Earth Sciences Mon, 18 Mar 2013 06:23:57 EDT news282806630 Japan's Fukushima Dai'ichi nuclear disaster that occurred in 2011—a result of the strongest earthquake on record in the country and the powerful tsunami waves it triggered—underscored the need for a method to monitor the status of nuclear fuel rods that doesn't rely on electrical power. https://phys.org/news/2012-10-self-powered-sensors-nuclear-fuel-rod.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:30:01 EDT news270215360 Much of the 6,200 metric tons of used nuclear fuel generated by U.S. power plants over the last 40 years is stored safely in giant stainless steel casks. Darryl Butt, a Boise State University professor, is part of a team researching whether it can be stored that way for at least 60 more. https://phys.org/news/2012-07-idaho-nuclear-fuel-sensor.html Engineering Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:17:29 EDT news261386223 Imagine the mess if we mined one ton of coal, burned five percent of it for energy, and then threw away the rest. https://phys.org/news/2012-06-nuclear-fuel-recycling-plentiful-energy_1.html Energy & Green Tech Mon, 25 Jun 2012 05:35:03 EDT news259821253 (PhysOrg.com) -- Sandia National Laboratories is using its Ion Beam Laboratory (IBL) to study how to rapidly evaluate the tougher advanced materials needed to build the next generation of nuclear reactors and extend the lives of current reactors. https://phys.org/news/2012-03-sandias-ion-laboratory-advanced-materials.html Condensed Matter Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:50:10 EDT news251999398 Japan used seawater to cool nuclear fuel at the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant after the tsunami in March 2011 -- and that was probably the best action to take at the time, says Professor Alexandra Navrotsky of the University of California, Davis. https://phys.org/news/2012-01-seawater-corrode-nuclear-fuel.html Materials Science Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:05:43 EST news246812720 Atmospheric chemists at the University of California, San Diego, report the first quantitative measurement of the amount of radiation leaked from the damaged nuclear reactor in Fukushima, Japan, following the devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this year. https://phys.org/news/2011-08-quantitative-leaked-fukushima-reactor.html Environment Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:00:31 EDT news232637236 The potential health consequences of the nuclear crisis at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant are not equal to those caused by the disaster at Chernobyl, Japanese health officials said Tuesday https://phys.org/news/2011-05-japan-disaster-similar-chernobyl.html Environment Tue, 17 May 2011 15:08:51 EDT news224863691 While 700 million travelers undergo TSA's intrusive scans and pat-downs each year, 11 million cargo containers enter American ports with little screening at all. And the volume of those containers, roughly equivalent to 590 Empire State Buildings of cargo, could contain something even worse than box knives or exploding shoes, namely nuclear weapons. https://phys.org/news/2011-04-physics-safer-ports-technology-nuclear.html Engineering Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:27:34 EDT news223295215 The operator of Japan's tsunami-hit nuclear plant said Sunday it aims to reduce radiation leaks within three months and to achieve a "cold shutdown" within six to nine months. https://phys.org/news/2011-04-japan-nuclear-firm-cold-shutdown.html Energy & Green Tech Sun, 17 Apr 2011 11:14:26 EDT news222257654 The impact of Japan's earthquake and nuclear crisis rippled through the economy Wednesday as the government downgraded its outlook and Toyota announced more temporary plant shutdowns overseas. https://phys.org/news/2011-04-japan-economy-toyota-effects-disaster.html Business Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:10:01 EDT news221924866