The fire at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine understandably raised the spectre of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. But thankfully this time another nuclear catastrophe was avoided.
A woman holds a blood-stained portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin at a protest at the Russian Consulate in Montreal on Feb. 25, 2022.
Andrej Ivanov /AFP via Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin has used his country’s massive energy reserves effectively for political influence. But with war in Ukraine, nations are looking for ways to cut those ties.
Fusion could create more energy than any other process that could be produced on Earth.
Shutterstock
The submarine announcement is sure to trigger a new round of debate on whether nuclear energy is right for Australia. But let’s be clear: the technology makes no sense for Australia.
The interior of the nuclear fusion reactor at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
A US laboratory has announced an exciting new leap forward in nuclear fusion, but it may be several decades before we see this form of energy come to fruition.
Fire a set of high-power lasers at a tiny speck of hydrogen isotopes and you can initiate nuclear fusion, the process that powers the Sun.
National Ignition Facility
Scientists are working on ways to make lots of energy by converting matter into energy. The trick is keeping the process under control. One possibility is nuclear fusion – the Sun’s power source.
Wind turbines near Glenrock, Wyo.
AP Photo/Matt Young
Ryan Wiser, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Bentham Paulos, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Dev Millstein, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Joseph Rand, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Fifteen years ago electric power generation was the largest source of US greenhouse gas emissions. Now the power sector is leading the shift to a clean energy economy.
An International Atomic Energy Agency investigator examines Reactor Unit 3 at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant, May 27, 2011.
Greg Webb, IAEA/Flickr
On the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, two experts explain why human choices are more important to nuclear safety than technology, and why the job is far from finished.
Icicles on a bush in downtown Houston, Feb. 15, 2021.
Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images
Heat waves, droughts and deep freezes can all strain the electric grid, leading utilities to impose rolling blackouts. Climate change is likely to make these events more common.