• More modest version of nuclear fusion power project to start

    Nuclear fusion reactor to built in southern France by an international consortium; operation will begin in 2018

  • ITER fusion project will start with hydrogen

    The ITER experiments will start in 2018 — but will be literally lighter, using hydrogen rather than heavier tritium and deuterium; the tritium and deuterium experiments will have to wait until 2026

  • GPO reveals confidential U.S. nuclear information by mistake

    A 2004 agreement between the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) requires the United States to submit to the agency a detailed list of the addresses and specifications of hundreds of U.S. nuclear-weapons-related facilities, laboratories, reactors, and research activities, including the location of fuel for bombs; the Department of Energy (DOE) prepared the report, and Government Printing Office (GPO) printed it so it could be submitted to the IAEA — but the GPO went ahead and, mistakenly, posted 268-page dossier on its Web site

  • Opposition growing to LNG project near Baltimore

    Virginia-based gas company AES wants to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in eastern Baltimore County; the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission placed 169 conditions, mostly related to safety and environment, on its approval of the project; residents in the neighboring communities say the company is far from meeting these conditions

  • Radioactive spills in Scotland

    U.K. Ministry of Defense reveals a series of serious radioactive leaks in 2004, 2007, and 2008 into the Firth of Clyde

  • Russia to build new-generation nuclear icebreaker by 2015

    Russia is locked in legal dispute with four other countries over rights to the mineral-rich areas in an under the North pole — areas which are slowly becoming accessible as a result of global warming; to make sure it gains ready access, Russia invests a new generation of nuclear ice breakers

  • Aussie company receives $250 million to prove wave power concept

    Investec Bank gives West Perth-based energy developer Carnegie Corporation $250 million to demonstrate the viability of its wave technology

  • Space-based solar power coming to California

    Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), California’s largest utility company, will purchase from Solaren 200 megawatts of electricity when Solaren’s system is in place, which is expected to be 2016

  • Aussies inaugurate carbon capture institute

    Australia is the world’s fourth largest producer of hard coal, and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says that Australia has a national and shared global responsibility to establish the workability of carbon capture and storage technology at a commercial scale

  • Luvata to supply oxygen-free copper to nuclear fusion project

    Finnish company awarded a contract to provide 13,000 km oxygen-free copper (Cu-OFE) strand to the ITER project; the superconducting cables must withstand heat treatment of at least 100 hours at 650 degrees centigrade

  • FLIR: stimulus makes company an even more attractive investment

    FLIR’s thermal technology is used in both defense and energy conservation applications; the stimulus package-related large investments in energy efficiency and continued robust defense and homeland security budgets combine to make the company an attractive target for investors

  • Cold fusion is enjoying a rebirth

    Researchers presented new evidence for the existence of this promising — and controversial — energy source’ papers discussed last week at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society

  • Handling nuclear materials for less

    During this century, nuclear plant decommissioning in the United Kingdom will likely produce thousands of waste packages that will be retrieved, conditioned, and stored for no less than £40 billion; BNS develops new way to reduce storage and handling costs of radioactive material

  • 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

  • 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