Advanced small modular reactors, known as SMRs, will probably have many advantages over older technology. But it's not yet known how they will stack up against other sources of electricity.
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If recent history repeats itself, the proposed repository for extremely dangerous nuclear waste will stay dead.
By figuring out fission, physicists were able to split uranium atoms and release massive amounts of energy. This Manhattan Project work paved the way both for atomic bombs and nuclear power reactors.
A nuclear physicist and disarmament expert recommends reading on nuclear disasters, weapons, authoritarianism and climate change.
Nuclear power plants don't just pump out steady, carbon-free electricity; they also help produce the people the US needs for nuclear weapons inspections.
Nuclear industry players tout small modular reactors as an "inherently safe," cost-effective source of electricity. The reality may be less attractive.
Vietnam recently cancelled it's plans for the procurement of nuclear energy. There are lessons South Africa can take from this.
The latest earthquake off Japan's east coast was an ominous reminder of the 2011 Fukushima disaster. But despite a technical hitch at one of Fukushima's other reactors, there was no repeat this time.
This is a big opportunity for smaller reactors that can be built quickly and cheaply.
Chernobyl is already responsible for up to 5,000 cases of cancer in Europe.
The meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 exposed 572 million people to radiation. No other nuclear accident holds a candle to that level of public health impact.
Engineers have devised an innovative way to dismantle Chernobyl's reactor while preventing further radiation escaping.
The UK government looks set to allow EDF to build a new kind of nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point. But are there better nuclear technologies we could use?
The restart of Japan's nuclear reactors is good news for climate change. But there are still large psychological barriers to overcome.
Even the biggest proponents of nuclear power can't ignore 10,000 metric tons of spent fuel globally every year. What if we could recycle every last atom of nuclear waste?
The basics of fission physics have stayed the same over the decades. But power-generating reactor designs have evolved, turning to new coolants, recycled fuel and other innovations.
It’s been almost two decades since a new nuclear plant opened for business in the United States. But that’s about to change as construction wraps up on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Unit 2…
Claude Shannon, who many consider the father of modern information theory, wrote a paper in 1949 in which he pointed out that security should never be based upon your enemy’s ignorance of how your system…
Engineers at Fukushima nuclear power plant have been trying to create a £185m ice wall to isolate contaminated water from mixing with groundwater. However, there has been a steady stream of news articles…
Top contributors
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Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia
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Doctoral student, University of Adelaide
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ARC Australian Laureate Professor, University of Tasmania
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Visiting Professor, University of Surrey
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Professor of Nuclear Physics, Director of Birmingham Centre of Nuclear Education and Research, University of Birmingham
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Scott L. Montgomery is a Friend of The Conversation.
Lecturer, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington
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Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Sheffield Hallam University
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Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan
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Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Irvine
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Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Deputy Director of the Energy Institute, University of Texas at Austin
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Director of the Health Physics and Radiation Protection Graduate Program and Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown University
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Research Fellow in nuclear waste disposal, University of Sheffield
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Deputy Section Head Section of Environment and Radiation at IARC, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
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Executive Director of the Durham Energy Institute, Durham University
