• 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

  • 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

  • U.S. unprepared for severe solar storms

    Mankind’s vulnerability to disruptions caused by severe solar storms has increased as a result of the increasing dependence of human societies on technology and electricity; a storm on the scale of the 1859 Carrington Event could damage the U.S. electrical grid to such an extent that vast regions of the country could be without power for weeks, perhaps months.

  • Dounreay nuclear dismantling team to use giant robot

    The U.K.’s experimental fusion nuclear reactor was ordered shut down and dismantled; dismantling team unveils a design for a 75-ton robot which will cut up radioactive equipment

  • Debate over alternatives to Yucca Mountain project

    The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project is being deliberately starved for funds by the Obama administration; some argue the United States should use UREX reprocessing technology to reprocess waste (this was the Bush administration’s preference); MIT and Harvard scientists say it is perfectly safe to store nuclear waste above ground for 60 or 70 years, while working on a better alternative to UREX

  • Funding continues for Yucca Mountain project

    Both Senator Harry Reid and President Barack Obama — and also Secretary of Energy Steven Chu — want the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project — 25 years and $13.5 billion in the making — ended, but funding continues

  • Senate debates federal role in U.S. power grid

    Legislators debate whether to allow the federal government to compel states to provide sites for “high-priority” federal transmissions projects; legislators also considering eminent domain provisions, which would allow the government to seize privately owned land that it judged as necessary for new power lines

  • NERC approves strengthened cyber security standards

    The North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s (NERC) independent Board of Trustees last week approved eight revised cyber security standards; entities found in violation of the standards can be fined up to $1 million per day, per violation in the United States

  • More than 950 billion barrels of crude have been extracted since 1850

    How much crude oils has been extracted around the world since 1850, the year the first commercial oil-wells were sunk in? Until now, experts calculated that number to be 944 billion barrels; new study suggests a figure that is 35 percent higher than that

  • Critics: Cybersecurity standards for grid do not go far enough

    Legislators introduce the Critical Electric Infrastructure Protection Act, would require FERC to issue updated regulations for the U.S. power grid within 120 days of enactment, but critics say the bill is too limited

  • Smart Grid offers savings, vulnerabilities

    A bill to be presented in Congress today aims to stop utility hackers; experts, legislators call for regulations on smart power meters to reduce new grid’s vulnerability to hacking

  • 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

  • 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

  • Eleven sites on final list for new U.K. nuclear power station sit

    The government published the list of eleven sites which could be potential hosts to new nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom

  • 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