5-Minute Nuclear

The Ubiquitous Uranium

The Ubiquitous Uranium We all are stars of yesterday. You and me both are made of matter that was created in ancient stars and supernovas. Carbon, and all heavier atoms, were created in these explosions which also spread them around the universe. Uranium, the mineral used as fuel in nuclear power reactors, is… Continue ...

How long can renewables keep growing?

How long can renewables keep growing? There are a couple things to consider here: Energy required, quality of that energy, replacement rate, and consistency. First off, those energy scenarios mentioned here (Unrealistic and crippling energy scenarios), show that through using purely renewables, we will have to also reduce our energy con...

Nuclear and the Chasm between Science and Politics

Nuclear and the Chasm between Science and Politics In a democracy, political policy is shaped by the views and opinions of the community. Nuclear technology carries significant historical baggage, often fuelled by a political, media and pop culture landscape unfamiliar with the technology, which leads to portraying nuclear with dramatic inaccuracy.....

Nuclear Explosion Test Detection: The Seismic Technique

Nuclear Explosion Test Detection: The Seismic Technique The nuclear explosive is emplaced in its test configuration inside a horizontal shaft excavated deep inside a mountain. The purpose of this test is to validate a new design concept which reduces the quantity of fissile material used while maintaining the original device yield of 20 kilotons equivale...

Nuclear Reactor: What Millions of People Don’t Know

Nuclear Reactor: What Millions of People Don’t Know Ever wonder how a nuclear reactor works? We’ve heard of fission and we know that electrons surround a nucleus. But what do these things mean? Perhaps you think something causes electrons to get chemically angry and just leave their nuclear family. Maybe you think that some divine magical force is ...

“Nobody can fully eliminate coal, it’s too hard!” It’s already happened…

“Nobody can fully eliminate coal, it’s too hard!” It’s already happened… [generation values updated 14JULY2018] That’s right! Ontario cut what was 25% of their grid supply to over 13 million people over 12 years. You can actually find a live stream of their power usage by source at http://live.gridwatch.ca/home-page.html. It includes their carbon emissions and everythi...

History of Nuclear Energy

History of Nuclear Energy This article comes from our friends over at whatisnuclear.com. I highly recommend checking out their site, as it provides some very good information on the future of nuclear energy. This article lays out in chronological order the development of nuclear as a useful energy source, along with the innu...

The Fukushima Accident

The Fukushima Accident There have been three major nuclear power plant accidents, with the most recent taking place on March 11, 2011 in Japan. On this day, an earthquake struck the island and caused a tsunami that affected the generators on the plant that resulted in a failure. Although this accident resulted in… Conti...

Bringing Some Realistic Expectations to Clean Energy

Bringing Some Realistic Expectations to Clean Energy Back when nuclear energy was first introduced, the media took the new idea and turned it into this magical thing that would solve all of the world’s problems before the year 2000. But the industry hadn’t been around long enough to have enough experience building the reactors, and had yet… Cont...

Not Your Olympic LFTR

Not Your Olympic LFTR As Joe brought his misbehaving car into the shop for repairs, he thought about the YouTube videos he watched last night dealing with a promising source of electricity and high temperature power. “Hey, Homer! How are things going in the wide world of automobile engineering?” “Hey, Joe! I just f...

Nuclear Accidents

Nuclear Accidents Fear is the Largest Health Hazard of Nuclear Accidents The mere possibility of nuclear accidents is one of the biggest worries people have when it comes to nuclear power. Even if the accidents are quite rare and unlikely, they can cause significant harm and damages. But how significant, and what… ...

Dad’s Introduction to Thorium

Dad’s Introduction to Thorium Dad walked in the door exhausted but satisfied after another hard ten-hour day of accounting work at the office. But this particular day had been unusual. He was proud and deeply honored to have helped a Gold Star mom settle the estate of her recently killed-in-action son at no charge.… Continue r...

Nuclear Explosive Testing

Nuclear Explosive Testing What do you think of when you hear someone talk of nuclear explosions? Most think of what they have seen on videos and what they have been told for years. A blinding flash. Extreme heat. A terrible blast pressure wave. A mushroom cloud. Radioactive fallout. Death and total destruction. These… Cont...

Sunscreen – The 5 things you MUST know:

Sunscreen – The 5 things you MUST know: First recall some quick science: Light is categorized by frequencies-called “bands.” Different bands pe*****te different depths in physical things. Ultraviolet (UV) light is one such band with sub-bands called UVA, UVB, and UVC Very little UVC makes it through the atmosphere though… we wont wo...

Energy Density of Nuclear Fuel

Energy Density of Nuclear Fuel Each type of fuel that is used in a power plant can be defined by its energy density. The energy density is essentially how much energy that a given amount of fuel will produce as a result of respective reactions. The energy density will effect the overall efficiency that a… Continue reading

The New Nuclear Era: It’s Not What You Think

The New Nuclear Era: It’s Not What You Think The fourth annual Advanced Reactors Technical Summit IV & Technology Trailblazers Showcase saw a wide range of engaging speakers from a variety of nuclear companies, start-up initiatives, and government agencies. These are people who have been in the nuclear industry for years and have found better....

Is Nuclear Power Safe?

Is Nuclear Power Safe? Those who work in the nuclear industry can’t stop telling the rest of us how safe it is. And those more critical towards it can’t seem to shut up about its dangers and risks. So who is right? Life is dangerous, and it ends with everyone dying. But us humans… Continue reading

The Birth of Nuclear Energy

The Birth of Nuclear Energy A clear dark night far from city lights under the quiet majesty of the Milky Way. The smell of musty leaves, flitting fireflies, chirps of crickets and croaks of frogs in the midnight cool, and the breathtaking silent expanse of the cosmos overhead. No hint of immensely distant ginormous nuclear… ...

Fukushima: What Really Happened

Fukushima: What Really Happened What broke Fukushima Daiichi? Let’s start off by saying that what happened was bad, I’m not going to say that it wasn’t. We all know better and we aren’t in the business of lying to people. However, I am going to put some things in perspective for you. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear… Continue r...

Moderators

Moderators In order for nuclear reactions to steadily occur, some of the neutrons inside the core must be slowed down, or moderated. Moderators are put in place to essentially slow the neutrons down to where they can interact properly with the intended target, such as Uranium, Plutonium, Thorium, etc. Our frie...

The Chernobyl Disaster

The Chernobyl Disaster The nuclear power plant that was located in Chernobyl, Ukraine will go down as the worst nuclear accident in history. On April 26, 1986, the nuclear plant failed and resulted in a meltdown. While this is a terrible event in not only nuclear history, but world history, it was taken… Continue readin...

Nuclear Fuel Basics

Nuclear Fuel Basics The energy humans use comes mainly from two different sources, both based on nuclear energy. Less than five percent of our energy is produced from uranium in nuclear power plants based on fission. The rest originates mostly from our solar system’s huge fusion reactor, the Sun . This article is… ...

Sunlight has radiation, so does moonlight! Ban Sunlight!

Sunlight has radiation, so does moonlight! Ban Sunlight! That’s right, skin cancer is a risk of being out too long or not using sunscreen. But let’s say you laid out for the same amount of time during a full moon. No issues right? But the light coming from the moon is the exact same as that from the… Continue reading

The more efficient our phones are the less we use them right?

The more efficient our phones are the less we use them right? If your phones battery will last 12 hours before it dies, you’ll be careful to make it last all day. But if it will last 24 hours, you’ll use it whenever you feel like it and not worry about it. This is also known as the rebound effect, or Jevon’s… Continue reading

The Most Advanced Way to Boil Water

The Most Advanced Way to Boil Water Nearly all electricity in the world is produced by turbines that spin generators. Most of this spinning is generated by boiling water in a power plant, where roughly one-third of the energy used to boil the water can be turned in to electricity. There are two main ways to boil… Continue reading

The Infamous Sunburn

The Infamous Sunburn As the as the sun provides the energy required for life, it emits photons over the entire light spectrum. Did you know that the colors we see are just a small part of the light spectrum and that some of it (which we cannot see) are the cause of the… Continue reading

Fission: The Origin of the Heat

Fission: The Origin of the Heat Previously, we realized that a nuclear reactor produces heat. Now we shall discuss how Fission produces the heat. First, we need a little bit more knowledge about Neutrons and to clear up some terminology that is often confusing (because nuclear engineers and Particle Physicists are the worst… Con...

Spent Nuclear Fuel

Spent Nuclear Fuel Nuclear waste. Especially in western culture, the mere mention of those two words arouse many feelings and summons many images, especially fear. Hot stuff! When removed from the reactor, spent nuclear fuel is really, really hot. And even though the chain reaction has stopped, the many fission produc...

Ten Reasons to Feel Positive about Nuclear Energy

Ten Reasons to Feel Positive about Nuclear Energy I have been participating in the public debate around nuclear for years. I have also been following up on the various arguments used in the discussion. Are these arguments based on scientific evidence or reports published by various organizations under the United Nations, for example? Sadly, not man...