Researchers at NRG, a Dutch nuclear materials firm, have begun the first tests of nuclear fission using thorium salts since experiments ended at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the early 1970s. Thorium has several advantages over uranium, the fuel that powers most nuclear reactors in service today. 1. it’s much harder to weaponize. 2. Reactor …
Indonesia is exploring a number of new options for nuclear power, including high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) and a thorium molten salt reactors. Indonesia has signed several nuclear deals * In early 2015, they signed a contract to build and test a pebble-bed HTGR at Serpong with a consortium of Russian and Indonesian companies led by …
Several energy analysts who are pro-solar and wind believe that they will dominate global energy and not face limitations based upon grid issues and other factors The pro-solar case is based upon massive scaling of lower cost solar and low cost batteries. In the USA, the residential solar market is starting to slow down after …
Researchers at the University of Houston have reported a new method for inducing superconductivity in non-superconducting materials, demonstrating a concept proposed decades ago but never proven. The technique can also be used to boost the efficiency of known superconducting materials, suggesting a new way to advance the commercial viability of superconductors, said Paul C.W. Chu, …
The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor is a type of Molten Salt Reactor. Molten Salt Reactors are Generation IV nuclear fission reactors that use molten salt as either the primary reactor coolant or as the fuel itself; they trace their origin to a series of experiments directed by Alvin Weinberg at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in …
Unit 1 of the Changjiang nuclear power plant on China’s southern island province of Hainan has entered commercial operation, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced on 25 December. The 650 MWe CNP-600 pressurized water reactor was connected to the electricity grid on 7 November. Initial approval for the Changjiang plant’s construction was granted by China’s …
The Marines’ barrel-chested robotic Legged Squad Support System — known as the robotic mule — has been put out to pasture. The machine, which resembles a headless pack mule made of metal, came about through a $32 million, two-and-a-half year contract between the Pentagon’s research arm, known as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and …
Nvidia is hoping to attract machine learning developers with the Jetson TX1, an ARM-based development board powered by the top-end Tegra X1 SoC. The company claims that in certain deep learning tasks that rely on dynamic input and computations—autonomous drones, facial recognition and behavioural analysis, and computer vision—the Jetson TX1 will beat out an Intel …
An unclassified Navy assessment called “Cruise missile warfare” described the relationship with the amount of explosives or missile hits too the size of the ship being disabled. Ship vulnerability is related to the cube root of displacement. This means a 100,000 ton displacement aircraft carrier needs to be hit with twice as much explosive to …
No methods currently exist for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, which affects one out of nine people over the age of 65. Now, an interdisciplinary team of Northwestern University scientists and engineers has developed a noninvasive MRI approach that can detect the disease in a living animal. And it can do so at the …
President Vladimir Putin says Russia will continue its ambitious military modernization program with a particular emphasis on nuclear strategic forces. Putin said the military is set to receive 50 new intercontinental ballistic missiles — a significantly higher number than in previous years. As of March 2013, Russia had a military stockpile of approximately 4,300 nuclear …
