Monday, 6 October 2008
There is a renewed interest in nuclear power, what with the rising price of oil and growing concerns about the environment. There is a catch, though: nuclear power generations also generates a lot of nuclear waste, and the safe storage of this toxic waste -- for thousands, if not millions, of years -- is a nagging problem.
Now, thanks to a team of Queensland University of Technology academics, radioactive waste may no longer be dangerous to store.
Nuclear matters
Russia to build IAEA-supervised nuclear fuel bank
The nuclear fueled bank would allow countries, including Iran, to develop civilian nuclear power without having to enrich their own uranium, thus allaying fears over nuclear weapons proliferation
Nuclear matters
DSRL in £13 million Dounreay decommissioning contract
Britain's Dounreay fast reactor was proclaimed as “the system of the next century”; this was in the 1960s; the last 15 years have seen the site develop into a nuclear reactor decommissioning project
ADVERTISEMENT
New three-in-one detection device
Lawrence Livermore researchers develop a "universal point detection system" which can detect explosive, chemical, and biological agents all at the same time
Nuclear fuel cycle echnology R&D, $15 million awarded
U.S. Department of Energy awards funding ranging in value from $200,000 to $2,000,000 to 34 organizations to do reasearch into spent fuel separations technology, advanced nuclear fuel development, fast burner reactors, and advanced transmutation systems, advanced fuel cycle systems analysis, advanced computing and simulation, safeguards, and advanced waste forms
Energy futures
Using kites to generate electricity
The amount of power available from wind is related to the cube of its speed; blades at higher altitudes could thus generate up to five times the amount of electricity as at lower altitudes; why, then, not place blades at higher altitudes?
ADVERTISEMENT
Energy futures
U.S. military launches war on global warming
The U.S. military wants to make a contribution toward reducing oil dependence and grann-house emmissions; the military has set a goal that 25 percent of its energy should come from renewable sources by 2025 and aims to create machines and methods to help Main Street America reach similar targets
Hitachi, GE to develop smaller nuclear reactors
There is a growing demand in countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand for midsize nuclear reactors; Hitachi and GE respond
Energy futures
Two million hydrogen vehicles on roads by 2020
A transition to hydrogen vehicles could greatly reduce U.S. oil dependence and carbon dioxide emissions, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council, but making hydrogen vehicles competitive in the automotive market will not be easy
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
