Fusion power may have just had the long-awaited breakthrough its backers have been waiting years for. A small secretive company in California called Tri Alpha Energy has been working on fusion power for years. But for Tri Alpha, like many other firms and government research bodies in the space, the trick has been getting the superheated gas needed for fusion power to stabilize long enough to have any real results. Now though, Tri Alpha has built a machine that forms a high temperature ball of superheated gas and holds it together for 5 milliseconds without decay. That tiny timeframe is…
Recently, a small, mostly unknown private player in the nuclear power arena was unveiled to a select group of equity analysts. That company, NuScale Power, is at the forefront of a major technological breakthrough that could change the way the world generates nuclear power. Moreover, the firm is probably the only viable investment choice for investors interested in this tech. Best of all, investors can invest in the company through a unique arrangement that mitigates risk. This is a major opportunity for long-term investors.Let’s start at the beginning. NuScale Power makes small modular reactors (SMRs) which are a type of…
Most people thinking about energy policy in Europe tend to focus on the renewable power the continent generates. While it is certainly true that many European countries have made enormous strides in renewable energy generation, there is another fuel source that is unusually important in many European countries compared to the rest of the world; nuclear power. Sweden is a prime example of this. The country generates almost 35 percent of its electricity from nuclear power – just shy of the amount that it generates from all renewable sources combined. It was big news and more than a little surprising…
Regulators for Washington DC rejected the proposed purchase of Pepco Holdings by Exelon, potentially killing off the $6.84 billion acquisition. By law, the DC Public Service Commission (PSC) said, the deal must benefit the public, and not just leave it unharmed. Chairman Betty Ann Kane said on August 25 that the body’s move was “one of the most important decisions the commission will ever make.” The rejection was momentous, as Exelon had already received approval from neighboring states in the region, including Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, along with the regulatory approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The…
The uranium sector has been waiting a long time for this week. When one of the world's most important markets for the metal has finally come back online. That's Japan. Where the long-awaited restart of the country's nuclear reactor fleet officially began yesterday. Major utility Kyushu Electric Power reported that it flipped the switch on the Sendai number one power plant in southern Japan on Tuesday. With the reactor now expected to reach full power generation capacity by Friday. Related: When Will Oil Prices Turn Around? The move is of course a small one in terms of Japan's overall nuclear capability.…
Perhaps no source of power is more controversial than nuclear energy. Nuclear produces virtually no pollution by volume compared with any other energy source and is vastly more efficient in terms of materials and land used. Yet despite that, nuclear power is arguably the most vociferously protested source of power on the planet. Environmental groups decry its risks and residents protest any time a new nuclear plant is proposed in an area. At the same time though, mankind might be approaching a tipping point for climate change. With fossil fuel production continuing to grow, environmentalists now face a choice –…
My uncle was 17 years old, proud of his martial Prussian heritage, when he joined the U.S. Marines, just in time to make the landing on Guadalcanal. He made it through that encounter, was later wounded on Okinawa, recovered, and was training for the invasion of the Japanese mainland when Hiroshima and Nagasaki went up in atomic flames. When we buried him a few years ago, the Marine Honor Guard spokesman on hand said that most of the 500,000 Purple Hearts minted for the invasion were still in inventory. That is fortunate for Americans, though it meant woes a thousand…
France is the world’s most nuclear dependent country. With 58 nuclear reactors in 19 power stations having a total capacity of 63.2 gigawatts, France is the second largest producer of nuclear energy in the world, second only to the United States.But unlike the U.S., nuclear energy represents France’s largest source of electricity generation, accounting for around 77 percent of the country’s energy generation in 2014. However, in the last few years, France has witnessed growing public support in favor of developing newer technologies that can reduce carbon emissions and replace nuclear power. A gradual increase in Nuclear power usage over the…
President Obama says otherwise, but he seems to have a propensity for slapping the nuclear industry across the face. When the Obama administration came into power, one of its first actions was to end work on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. In so doing, it delivered a shuddering blow to the U.S. nuclear industry, trashing the project when it was nearly ready to open. The cost to taxpayers was about $15 billion. Now the administration is going through the motions to suspend another costly nuclear waste investment when it is about 67 percent complete. Money expended: $4.5…
Even as the future of grid-scale nuclear reactors seems to be in flux with the mainstay producers like the Japanese and French seemingly unsure about the future of atomic power, new applications for nuclear technology are being developed all the time. Traditional nuclear power plants cost billions to build and, as Japan discovered, can be very dangerous. Of course nuclear power, despite its dangers, is also one of the most efficient energy generation technologies on the planet. It is little surprise then that nuclear power advocates are excited about a new area of technology in the industry: miniature nuclear reactors.…
