Russia unveils new nuclear powered spacecraft destined for Mars
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many countries have tried to develop miniaturised nuclear reactors for space flight applications, but Russia’s by far the closest. Elon Musk wants to travel to Mars using SpaceX’s planned monolithic rocket booster, the Big Falcon Rocket. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in...
Two breakthroughs make it impossible to fake nuclear weapon decommissioning
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Making sure countries subject to nuclear disarmament treaties are actually decommissioning real, not fake, nuclear weapons has always posed a problem, this breakthrough will no longer let the fakers get away with it. In past negotiations aimed at reducing the arsenals of the world’s...
Suspicious nuclear power plants can now be monitored remotely using WATCHMAN
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Up until now it’s only been possible to assess the status of a sovereign states nuclear power program by physically inspecting the site, which is sometimes difficult, but now it can be done remotely from thousands of miles away. A consortium led by UK...
Google hits its ambitious 100% renewable energy target
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Renewable energy is rapidly becoming the energy of choice for many countries and companies, and as output increases and costs fall, more companies are making the switch from fossil fuels By March this year all of Google’s datacentres and offices will be powered entirely...
New nanomaterial exploits radiation to create more powerful nuclear reactors
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Todays nuclear reactors are limited by their operating temperatures, this new nanoceramic material could dramatically increase the temperatures they can operate at and increase both their power production and efficiency An international team of researchers have created a nanoceramic material that not only can...
Scientists turn nuclear waste into diamond batteries that last forever
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Nuclear waste is normally buried beneath ground and left forever, this new breakthrough gives nuclear processing companies a new option and a new revenue stream. Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed a method to turn radioactive graphite blocks, a waste product of...
The end of fossil fuels, Asia and Europe draw up a Global Energy Grid
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As renewable energy becomes more reliable countries around the world are seriously exploring connecting their energy grids together to form a Global Super Grid. Northeast Asia, the region encompassing China, South Korea, and Japan, has not yet gotten around to connecting its electricity grids...
