Archive | Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

Over the next year, the work between Bruce Power and Westinghouse will focus on furthering public policy and the regulatory framework; assessing the economic, social and environmental contribution of the eVinci technology compared to alternatives, such as diesel or other fossil fuels; identifying potential industrial applications; and accelerating the roadmap for Canada to host a demonstration unit as part of the federal small modular reactor action plan.

The eVinci micro reactor is a next-generation, small battery for decentralised generation markets and micro grids such as remote communities, remote industrial mines and critical infrastructure.

It is designed to provide competitive and resilient power and superior reliability with minimal maintenance, and its small size allows for standard transportation methods and rapid, on-site deployment. Continue Reading →

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The nuclear industry has been stalled for years now, struggling to compete with cheaper forms of power and viewed as suspect ever since the accidents at Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island.
Only two reactors are being built in the U.S., in Georgia, and they are years behind schedule and weighed down by cost overruns and political opposition.

But now there’s a race to take nuclear power in a radically different direction in a bid to revive the industry. Companies around the world, including NuScale Power LLC in the U.S., China National Nuclear Corp. and Russia’s Rosatom, are developing a new generation of reactors, with some designs that will be more than 90% smaller than the hulking facilities that have dominated the industry for decades. One model can even fit into a single-family house. Continue Reading →

https://asia.nikkei.com/

TOKYO — China is on track to surpass the U.S. as the world’s top producer of nuclear energy as early as 2030, reflecting hesitance to build new capacity in Japan and Western nations even as emerging economies move ahead.

China’s total nuclear power generation capacity, including reactors under construction and in planning, came to 108,700 megawatts as of April, more than America’s 105,120 MW, according to the World Nuclear Association, an industry group.

The trend reflects diverging approaches to nuclear power after the March 2011 Fukushima meltdowns in Japan. While the U.S., Europe and Japan grew risk averse in response to public fears, emerging nations have been keener. Continue Reading →

https://www.npr.org/

The atomic bombs that ended World War II killed — by some estimates — more than 200,000 people. In the decades since 1945, there has been a revisionist debate over the decision to drop the bombs.

Did the U.S. decide to bomb in order to avoid a land invasion that might have killed millions of Americans and Japanese? Or did it drop the bomb to avoid the Soviet army coming in and sharing the spoils of conquering Japan? Were the prospects of a land invasion even more destructive than the opening of the nuclear age?

D.M. Giangreco, formerly an editor for Military Review, has taken advantage of declassified materials in both the U.S. and Japan to try to answer those questions. He talks with NPR’s Scott Simon about his new book, Hell to Pay: Operation DOWNFALL and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947. Continue Reading →