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BNS wins £13 million Dounreay decommissioning contract
Dounreay was the site of a brave, new idea — a fast breeder nuclear reactor which would convert an unusable form of uranium to plutonium which could be recycled and turned into new reactor fuel; it would, that is, breed its own fuel, offering the prospect of electricity in abundance; it has not worked out that way; now it is the site of a big decommissioning effort
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Obama's budget cuts off most funds for Yucca Mountain repository
The future of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository appears grim; Obama campaigned against the project, which is already more the 10 years behind schdule; new scientific evidence showing that water flows through Yucca Mountain much faster than initially believed raises the prospect that the nuclear waste would leach over time
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New reactor design solves waste, weapon proliferation problems
A new nuclear reactor design — called Traveling-Wave reactor — is noteworthy for three things: it comes from a privately funded research company, not the government; it would run on what is now waste, thus reducing dramatically the nuclear waste and weapon proliferation problems; and it could theoretically run for a couple of hundred years without refueling
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France will help Italy revive nuclear power industry
Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi sign an agreement which will see the Italian power company, ENEL, and its French counterpart, EDF, study the feasibility of building four power stations in Italy
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Sweden: Mid-course correction on nuclear power
Sweden had planned to phase out its nuclear energy capacity, ending it in about twenty to thirty years’ time or when the installations came to the end of their lives; government announced that “The phase-out law will be abolished. The ban in the nuclear technology law on new construction will also be abolished”
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Breakthrough: New nuclear fusion-fission hybrid reactor
High power Compact Fusion Neutron Source (CFNS) would provide abundant neutrons through fusion to a surrounding fission blanket that uses transuranic waste as nuclear fuel; the fusion-produced neutrons augment the fission reaction, imparting efficiency and stability to the waste incineration process
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Decision on U.K. site for next generation nuclear reactor nears
The U.K. government has given the nuclear industry two months to choose a site for the next generation nuclear reactor; from 2010, developers will be able to apply for development permits for the sites chosen
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How long will the world's uranium deposits last?
At current consumption rates, the planet’s economically accessible uranium resources could fuel reactors for more than 200 years; further exploration and improvements in extraction technology are likely to at least double this estimate over time; if we extract uranium from seawater, and build breeder reactors, then supplies will last 30,000 to 60,000 years
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Japan to restart controversial fast-breeder reactor
Japan, an economic giant with no natural energy resources, is to restart its controversial fast-breeder nuclear reactor this year after a series of safety scares caused the closing of the plant for more than 13 years
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Top 7 alternative technologies to fossil fuel
Energy expert says that an “all of the above” approach to the world’s energy problem is wrong; study shows wind and solar to be the most promising alternative technologies to fossil fuel; biofuel, clean coal, and nuclear power are do not hold such promise
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Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository too small
Congress has placed a 77,000-ton limit on the amount of nuclear waste that can be buried in Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository (the repository will open in 2020 at the earliest); trouble is, the 104 active U.S. nuclear reactors, together with the Pentagon, produce that amount of waste in two years
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Nuclear fuel cycle echnology R&D, $15 million awarded
U.S. Department of Energy awards funding ranging in value from $200,000 to $2,000,000 to 34 organizations to do reasearch into spent fuel separations technology, advanced nuclear fuel development, fast burner reactors, and advanced transmutation systems, advanced fuel cycle systems analysis, advanced computing and simulation, safeguards, and advanced waste forms
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U.S. military launches war on global warming
The U.S. military wants to make a contribution toward reducing oil dependence and grann-house emmissions; the military has set a goal that 25 percent of its energy should come from renewable sources by 2025 and aims to create machines and methods to help Main Street America reach similar targets
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Two million hydrogen vehicles on roads by 2020
A transition to hydrogen vehicles could greatly reduce U.S. oil dependence and carbon dioxide emissions, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council, but making hydrogen vehicles competitive in the automotive market will not be easy
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German-Japanese collaboration on carbon dioxide recovery
Mitsubishi, E.ON to test a system which recovers carbon dioxide from flue-gas emissions at a coal-fired power plant in Germany
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