The ANS Nuclear Cafe Matinee is usually celebrated on Fridays-but this time, we just couldn't wait.

The 75th Anniversary of the Discovery of Nuclear Fission

Yes, of course... in super slo-mo.  Today's Nuclear Matinee features videos of a recent test conducted to simulate an aircraft crash on a HI-STAR 180 spent nuclear fuel transport cask, a product of Holtec International that is completing rigorous certification for the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate.

Years ago, filmmaker Robert Stone helped Michael Moore make his very first movie (Roger & Me). Here, Stone and Moore discuss the pro-nuclear energy documentary Pandora's Promise, directed by Stone and featured this summer at Moore's Traverse City Film Festival.

The September 2013 edition of the technical journal Nuclear Technology is available electronically and in hard copy for American Nuclear Society member subscribers and others.

The September 2013 edition of the technical journal Fusion Science and Technology is available electronically and in hard copy for American Nuclear Society member subscribers and others.

The ANS Nuclear Cafe Matinee today visits the Switch Energy Project and its impressive array of interviews with world-class energy experts.

At the birthplace of nuclear energy, one man dares to answer all questions nuclear - Dr. Dave Grabaskas of Argonne National Laboratory.

The September 2013 edition of the research journal Nuclear Science and Engineering is available both electronically and in hard copy for American Nuclear Society member subscribers and others.

For faithful viewers of the ANS Nuclear Matinee-an instant classic from not so long ago, starring Microsoft founder, philanthropist, and nuclear energy enthusiast (and investor) Bill Gates.

The American Nuclear Society has published a new book, "Radiochemical Technology in Nuclear Power Plants" by Chien C. Lin, available in hard cover through the ANS store.

"Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station generates 72.5 percent of the state's electricity while emitting no greenhouse gases."

Get to Know Nuclear

James Hansen, former head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, earlier this year co-authored a study that conservatively estimated that nuclear power has saved 1.8 million lives since 1971 that otherwise would have been lost due to fossil fuel pollution and associated causes. For more information, see this post at Scientific American blogs-and this previous ANS nuclear matinée.

Realizing new technologies for the age of fusion energy

A quick note of congratulations to NASA's Mars Curiosity rover project team on the first anniversary of a daredevil landing on Mars on August 6, 2012.

Switch is a documentary on the worldwide future of energy directed by Harry Lynch and produced by Arcos Films, released in 2012.  Dr. Scott Tinker of the University of Texas takes viewers on a global tour of energy sites and facilities to explore the next energy transition of our civilization - the point at which energy derived from fossil fuels, versus from "everything else," switch places in terms of providing the majority of world energy.  The film posits that this enormous, colossal transition is likely to occur within 50 years.

A new time-lapse video shows early site preparation and containment vessel bottom head placement at the Plant Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Georgia. Two new nuclear power reactors are scheduled to begin operations at Plant Vogtle in 2017 and 2018. Along with two units under construction at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station in South Carolina, these will be the first new nuclear units built in the United States in the last three decades. Enjoy the show!

Make plans now to attend the American Nuclear Society's LWR Fuel Performance/ TopFuel 2013 Conference, to be held at the beautiful Westin Charlotte Hotel in the picturesque energy hub city of Charlotte, N.C., on September 15-19.

It's hot out! Across much of the United States, the largest heat wave of the summer has been stagnating all week.