• A first: China connects fast-neutron reactor to the grid

    Fast-neutron reactors use uranium sixty times more efficiently than a normal reactor; if adopted, the reactors would make current uranium reserves go longer; the reactor design also minimizes radioactive waste from nuclear energy; China is the first country to connect a fast-neutron reactor to its grid

  • Japan halts shipments of radioactive beef

    The Japanese government is coming under fire for only halting shipments of contaminated cattle now, four months after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami that led to the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic energy station; authorities recently discovered that 637 cattle had been fed hay contaminated with radioactive cesium and then shipped from farms in northern prefectures including Fukushima

  • Virginia powerplant holds nuke disaster simulation

    On Tuesday, nuclear plant officials and emergency responders recently participated in an exercise to simulate an accident at the Surry atomic power plant in Virginia; Dominion Virginia Power, which operates the state’s four nuclear reactors, regularly holds exercises like these at the Surry plant, but following Japan’s nuclear disaster, the exercises have become even more important

  • Japan's prime minister pushes to end nuke program

    Japan could soon be following in the footsteps of Germany and shut down its nuclear energy plants; at a televised press conference on Wednesday, Prime Minister Naota Kan pushed to end Japan’s nuclear program; “Japan should aim for a society that does not depend on nuclear energy,” Kan said

  • U.K. awards 160 million Pound nuclear decommissioning contracts

    The decommissioning of one of U.K. oldest nuclear plants — Sellafield, located close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England — has taken a giant step forward thanks to the awarding of three waste retrieval contracts worth more than 160 million Pounds

  • Nuclear safety journal launched

    Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima: for the third time in twenty-five years a nuclear power plant suffered a serious accident, precipitating a global review of the way to govern nuclear safety and security; a publisher of scientific journal is launching a new journal — International Journal of Nuclear Safety and Security (IJNSS) — which will offer a forum for the serious discussion of nuclear power plants’ safety

  • 45 percent of children in Fukushima exposed to thyroid radiation

    A survey revealed that 45 percent of children living near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been exposed to thyroid radiation; following the nuclear disaster and the revelation that radiation was leaking from reactor no. 1, researchers tested more than 1,000 children from newborns to age fifteen in the Fukushima Prefecture; children were found to have been exposed to 0.04 microsievert per hour or less in most cases

  • New York governor determined to close Indian Point nuclear plant

    The Indian Point nuclear power plant, located thirty-five miles north of New York City, is facing increasing pressure from Governor Andrew Cuomo and senior officials say the governor is determined to shut it down; the governor’s hand has been strengthened by new legislation that streamlines the approval process for siting new power plants in New York, a move that would make it easier to replace Indian Point; closing the nuclear plant would be a major step toward reshaping the state’s energy policy as the plant produces 2,000 megawatts and provides New York City and Westchester with 25 percent of their power — but the nuclear disaster in Japan caused by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami raised fresh concerns about the plant, which is located near a fault line

  • Germany approves plan to shutdown nuke plants

    On Thursday Germany’s parliament overwhelmingly voted in favor of approving the country’s plans to end its nuclear program by 2022; Germany’s eight oldest reactors, which were closed shortly after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, will remain off while the country’s nine other nuclear plants will be shut down in stages

  • Nebraska floods test a nuclear power plants new safety measures

    U.S. nuclear officials are closely monitoring two atomic energy plants in Nebraska that are in danger of being inundated with water as the Missouri River continues to creep ever closer; the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant has been closed for refueling since April and will remain off until the flooding subsides, but officials are worried about keeping the recently removed fuel rods cool as the facility’s parking lot has been flooded

  • China secures nukes ahead of major storms

    Nuclear power plants along China’s coast are hardening their facilities in advance of the major typhoon storm systems that are expected to hit the country this year; the storms will create massive waves that could cause casualties and property damage; experts expect the Jiangsu and Fujian provinces to be hit the hardest in the east and the Guangdong and Hainan provinces in the south

  • Obama official says Yucca Mountain nuclear storage site has no chance

    On Monday a senior Department of Energy official said that the long-term nuclear storage facility in Yucca Mountain, Nevada was no longer a viable option; Daniel Poneman, the deputy Energy Secretary, said, “We do not see Yucca Mountain as a solution here. It is time to turn the page and try to find a better set of solutions”; in 2002 Congress approved Yucca Mountain as the designated long term storage site for nuclear waste from atomic reactors in the United States and preparations were under way for the deep underground facility, but in 2010 President Obama withdrew funding for the project

  • Nebraska nuclear plant on flood alert

    Levees in northern Missouri were failing late Saturday and Sunday as a result of massive release of water from upstream dams; farmland and houses in two Missouri counties — Holt and Atchison — were flooded and residents evacuated; two Nebraska nuclear power plant place on flood alerts

  • "Melt-through" at Fukushima nuclear plant

    Japan has admitted that molten nuclear fuel in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has burned through pressure vessels, not just the reactors’ cores — creating a “melt-through,” which is a more serious problem than a melt down

  • Grids complicate Germany’s nuke exit

    Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a daunting challenge as her cabinet must implement a plan that replaces 23 percent of the nation’s energy output as nuclear power plants are phased out; to successfully end its nuclear energy program with minimal disruptions, Germany must first build a $14.4 billion expansion of its electrical grid; electrical cables are needed to bring energy generated from offshore wind farms in the north to its manufacturing centers in the south; in addition, high-volume lines stretching to France must be built to allow for energy imports to cover any shortfalls; but Germans have long been opposed the building of new overhead power lines; the country must construct as much as 2,235 miles of cables by 2020