Alternative Energy / Nuclear Power

• The Implications of Germany Decision to End Their Nuclear Energy Programme

  Germany’s anti-nuclear movement is the poster-boy of its kind in Europe, even worldwide. Over the course of nearly forty years this potent, enduring campaign swayed German public opinion decisively against nuclear power. In June 2011, Germany became the first industrialised nation to commit to abandoning the atom as an energy source once and for all by 2022 - a move unthinkable without the unremitting pressure of Germany’s tenacious anti-nukes movement. The reactor meltdowns in Fukushima, Japan, following the tsunami of March 2011 forced the German government’s hand; but it was the popular distrust and solid arguments against nuclear technology that…

• Japan’s Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant to Get Anti-Tsunami Seawall

  In an attempt to protect its assets from a Fukushima-style meltdown, Chubu Electric Power Co. is constructing an 18-meter (60 foot) anti-tsunami seawall around its Hamaoka nuclear plant.  The plant is reportedly near a fault line that may be vulnerable to future earthquakes and tsunamis. The decision to build the wall came following the Japanese government’s forced shutdown of the plant in order to implement disaster mitigation measures. Representatives from Chubu Electric say the seawall and other safety measures should protect the plant from a tsunami of the same magnitude as that which crippled the Fukushima nuclear plant. The plant…

• Japan Turning to Nuclear Fusion Following Fukushima

  After the Fukushima nuclear crisis -- triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami -- Japan has been strongly divided on nuclear power. Many Japanese will only consider a nuclear future for Japan if the technology is proven to be free of threats of radioactive contamination and runaway chain reaction meltdowns. Nuclear fusion offers the promise of nuclear power without melt-downs or widespread contamination -- even after the worst natural disasters. And so International Professional Networks (IPN) of Japan has turned to Fusion Power Corporation (FPC) to investigate the use of FPC's heavy ion fusion (HIF) for Japan. Images via FusionPowerCorporation…

• Nuclear Energy and a Main Battle Tank

  Miracles take place in every war. The United States accounted for some of these during the Second World War, of which two were decisive. These were the construction of the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy, and just as important the training of the personnel to exploit these miracles. Before I transferred to the infantry, I worked with a Japanese engineer who told me about how he and his colleagues had examined an American bomber that had been brought down over his country, and was still intact. According to him, when their examination was completed, they concluded that Japan…

• Despite Fukushima, Russia’s Nuclear Industry is Open for Business

  Japan’s 11 March catastrophe at its six-reactor Daichi Fukushima nuclear power complex has had global repercussions, hardly surprising given the trillions of dollars invested in civilian nuclear energy over the last five decades. Ironically, just a year ago the nuclear power industry saw itself on the verge of a renaissance, with worldwide concerns about global warming causing many to reconsider the merits of nuclear energy, which produces no greenhouse gases. Events in Japan changed all that, and hit the “big three” exporters of civilian nuclear power technology hard – the U.S., France and the Russian Federation. While the first two…

• Faux Commandos Breach Two U.S. Nuclear Power Plants

  Imagine you’re an engineer at a nuclear power plant that contains some of the most dangerous materials known to man.  Suddenly, commandos slip past security guards, killing some of your colleagues and blowing up key facilities, potentially leaking deadly radioactive substances into the atmosphere and putting surrounding communities at risk of contamination.  That’s exactly what has taken place at 24 of the United States’ 104 commercially active nuclear power plants.  The only thing is, none of it was real. In an effort by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to test security at the country’s nuclear power plants, mock raids are…

• France Gives Thumbs Up to Nuclear Energy with $1.4 Billion Investment

  France will invest €1 billion ($1.4billion) in its nuclear power programme, bucking the post-Fukushima trend away from nuclear energy. Announcing the energy funding package – which also commits a further €1.35 billion to renewables – French president Nicholas Sarkozy declared there is “no alternative to nuclear energy today”. The €1 billion will fund ‘fourth generation’ nuclear development and research into nuclear safety, the president said on Monday. The decision to boost nuclear power in France, which gets most of its energy from nuclear sources, goes against that of others in the region. Germany recently announced the phased shutdown of all…

• Worldwide Nuclear Industry Woes Deepen

  The year 2011 will go down for the nuclear industry worldwide as an annus horribilis.First came the March Fukushima nuclear disaster, with operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) belatedly acknowledging that three of the facility’s six reactors did, in fact, suffer core meltdowns. On 20 June Moody's Investors Service obligingly cut its credit rating on TEPCO to junk status and kept the operator of Japan's crippled nuclear power plant on review for possible further downgrade, citing uncertainty over the fate of its bailout plan. TEPCO is Japan's largest corporate bond issuer and its shares are widely held by financial institutions.…

• How to Incinerate the Entire U.S. Stockpile of Nuclear Waste Within 20 Years

  Many billions of dollars have been spent on large scale fusion efforts such as the National Ignition Facility in Livermore or ITER in France. But if the best use of fusion in the intermediate term is to burn up non-recyclable nuclear waste from fission reactors, perhaps the smaller-scale, cheaper approaches might be better? Small efforts such as Bussard IEC fusion, Focus Fusion, General Fusion, Tri Alpha etc. are the sentimental favourites, because they are the work of relatively small groups with low budgets. Their reactors would be small enough to mass produce in factories. And maybe they could even provide…

• Investigation of Aging U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Reveals Some Scary Truths

  Amidst the ongoing nuclear disaster in Japan—that third-party scientific investigators are claiming is 30 times worse than Chernobyl—some countries seem to be coming to their senses and rethinking the cost versus benefit of using nuclear power.  Germany, Italy and Switzerland are all moving to end their nuclear energy programs by substituting clean, safe renewable alternatives.  However, other developed nations, like the U.S., are making no such efforts.  That’s unfortunate, considering that the Associated Press’ year-long investigation into U.S. nuclear power reveals some scary truths about the safety of the industry. The report reveals the following: “Federal regulators have been working…