Start-Ups Defy Convention, Push Nuclear Power into the Future
by Beth Kelly
by Beth Kelly
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article
The 269th edition of the Nuclear Energy Blog Carnival has posted at Yes Vermont Yankee
This week's feature is a half hour documentary on the history of the National Reactor Testing Station, or NRTS (now part of Idaho National Laboratory) which has seen 52 different and largely unique reactors constructed on the same, enormous site. The importance of efforts at NRTS over the years cannot be underestimated.
by Jim Hopf
This week's presentation features one of the biggest stars in the world of nuclear energy today: Plant Vogtle's expansion project. You'll see the progress on site first hand, as always presented to us by the affable Joe Washington. Click the link and enjoy this Friday's Nuclear Matinee.
"Technical Area Five" or TA-V at Sandia National Laboratories encompasses a fascinating array of nuclear research activitites, which are detailed in this five-and-a-half minute video.
The development of any competitive technology has always been marked by a headlong rush by competitors in the field to achieve before others. The dash to develop workable nuclear power plants (no matter what their energy was employed to do) certainly saw this phenomenon from the late 1940s onward. In June we celebrate the anniversary of the first commercial power plant to be placed on the grid anywhere. It was not in the United States. It was in the Soviet Union.
The versatile, powerful and unique ATR (Advanced Test Reactor) at Idaho National Laboratory is featured in this video describing it, the history of materials testing reactors that led up to it, and the uses for this amazing facility. Fuel handling and storage are also shown and described.
The only power facility in California that does not use any of the state's precious fresh water is the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo County. It can even produce additional freshwater for the nearby community.
Editors note: On June 11, 2015, Eugene Grecheck became the 2015-2016 president of the American Nuclear Society. The following is his vision for nuclear and ANS.
by Will Davis, reporting from the ANS Annual Meeting in San Antonio
By Jim Conca
I work with people in the nuclear energy industry. My goal is to ensure that everyone I work with ends up being a better member of the industry. Smarter about how things need to be done, or why things should be done. BUT, there's much more to nuclear technology and today, I got a reminder.