Fusion power, if it works, offers vast amounts of clean energy and almost zero carbon emissions. A new experimental fusion reactor has come online, and it uses a curious twisted stellarator design.
The plasma inside a fusion reactor.
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Fusion development takes time. It cannot be developed in miniature and then be simply scaled up. But we must work now, to make it possible to meet humanity’s need for abundant, clean energy.
The Fukushima Daini plant, 11km from the ill-fated Daiichi station, suffered a technical problem in one of its spent fuel cooling ponds.
EPA/Kimimasa Mayama
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.
Trump’s access to nuclear weapons poses a new and unknown threat to global peace and security.
AAP Image/NEWZULU/ZACH SIMEONE
Donald Trump will soon have command of thousands of nuclear weapons. This presents a new and unknown threat to global security - and an urgent incentive for all states to ban nuclear weapons.
A former state regulator and member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission argues that subsidizing reactors to keep them running is unnecessary and will be bad for consumers and the environment.
The FitzPatrick nuclear plant in Oswego, New York will receive state subsidies to continue operating through 2029.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory commission/Flickr
A nuclear engineer makes the case that nuclear power plants are important resources and should receive economic rewards for providing steady supplies of carbon-free electricity.
Protesters gathered near the proposed site for Hinkley Point C.
Andrew Matthews/PA
David Elmes, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
Britain should focus on energy efficiency and small-scale renewable projects, not huge new power plants.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California is closing and the state has committed to replacing it with greenhouse-free sources of electricity.
Doc Searls
South Africa’s nuclear plans have been put on hold. In light of recent events in the country, pressure is being put on the government to halt the process.
After one reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant caught fire and exploded in 1986, the whole site was encased in a concrete sarcophagus.
Vladimir Repik/Reuters
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.
White storks on road near Chernobyl, Ukraine. Many parts of the Chernobyl region have low radioactivity levels and serve as refuges for plants and animals.
Tim Mousseau
How do we measure long-term impacts of nuclear accidents? Studies at Chernobyl and Fukushima show that radiation has harmed animals, birds and insects and reduced biodiversity at both sites.
Pripyat is often portrayed as a haunted ghost town.
EFREM LUKATSKY / AP/Press Association Images
Chernobyl’s liquidators have come up with some intriguing ways of dealing with what they’ve gone through – without directly confronting painful memories.
Recent terrorist attacks have heightened concerns about the security of nuclear plants. A former top U.S. nuclear regulator says security is weak at many sites worldwide.
The nuclear power plant in Doel, Belgium.
EPA/Laurent Dubrule
Remediation will never get radiation to zero in the area affected by the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant. Rather than safety, the conversation should focus on acceptable risk.
Thousands of bags of radioactive rubble near Fukushima, 2016.
EPA