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face_with_colon_three Year 2017


A paper recently published in the journal Nuclear Engineering and Technology demonstrated the feasibility of using graphene to control hydrogen isotopes, specifically tritium.

Study: Adsorption of Hydrogen Isotopes on Graphene. Image Credit: Rost9/Shutterstock.com

Background

Tritium, a fast-decaying radioelement of hydrogen with one proton and two neutrons, is produced by nuclear reactors and by the interaction between cosmic rays and atmospheric particles. Tritium beta can diffuse through several materials, has 12.35 years half-life, and decays into helium-3.

O.0!!!!


DARPA is our favorite source for off-the-wall yet compelling technology. We’ve seen proposals for flying cars, handheld nuclear fusion devices, and now poop-powered nuclear reactors. It’s not as crazy at seems.

Wired explains that there would be multiple benefits to sticking portable, poop-powered reactors at military bases. The reactors could eliminate human waste (and the need to dispose of it) at the same time as they reduce the need to scrounge up pricey fuel sources. And since people never stop pooping, potential fuel is virtually limitless.

DARPA’s portable nuclear device doesn’t exist yet–the agency is currently soliciting design concepts. Want to apply? DARPA asks that generator designs produce 15,000 gallons per day of fuel and support an electrical load of 5 to 10 MW. The design should also be inherently safe. That means human waste shouldn’t go flying everywhere if something goes wrong with the reactor. If DARPA finds what it is looking for, perhaps the agency should consider tipping off Bill Gates and Toshiba–they’re also working on hot tub-sized nuclear reactors.

Back in 2018, a tank of the purest water, buried under kilometers of rock in Ontario, Canada, flashed as barely detectable particle slammed through its molecules.

It was the first time that water has been used to detect a particle known as an antineutrino, which originated from a nuclear reactor more than 240 kilometers (150 miles) away. This incredible breakthrough promises neutrino experiments and monitoring technology that use inexpensive, easily acquirable and safe materials.

As some of the most abundant particles in the Universe, neutrinos are odd little things with a lot of potential for revealing deeper insights into the Universe. Unfortunately they are almost massless, carry no charge, and barely interact with other particles at all. They mostly stream through space and rock alike, as though all matter was incorporeal. There’s a reason they’re known as ghost particles.

Researchers have utilized Alfvén waves to mitigate runaway electrons in tokamak fusion devices, offering significant implications for future fusion energy projects, including the ITER in France.

Scientists led by Chang Liu of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a collaborative national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science. Its primary mission is research into and development of fusion as an energy source for the world.

Bill Gates is a staunch advocate for nuclear energy, and although he no longer oversees day-to-day operations at Microsoft, its business strategy still mirrors the sentiment. According to a new job listing first spotted on Tuesday by The Verge, the tech company is currently seeking a “principal program manager” for nuclear technology tasked with “maturing and implementing a global Small Modular Reactor (SMR) and microreactor energy strategy.” Once established, the nuclear energy infrastructure overseen by the new hire will help power Microsoft’s expansive plans for both cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

Among the many, many, (many) concerns behind AI technology’s rapid proliferation is the amount of energy required to power such costly endeavors—a worry exacerbated by ongoing fears pertaining to climate collapse. Microsoft believes nuclear power is key to curtailing the massive amounts of greenhouse emissions generated by fossil fuel industries, and has made that belief extremely known in recent months.

[Related: Microsoft thinks this startup can deliver on nuclear fusion by 2028.].

The results of the Chi-Nu physics experiment at Los Alamos National Laboratory have contributed essential, never-before-observed data for enhancing nuclear security applications, understanding criticality safety and designing fast-neutron energy reactors. The Chi-Nu project, a years-long experiment measuring the energy spectrum of neutrons emitted from neutron-induced fission, recently concluded the most detailed and extensive uncertainty analysis of the three major actinide elements—uranium-238, uranium-235 and plutonium-239.

“Nuclear and related nuclear chain reactions were only discovered a little more than 80 years ago, and experimenters are still working to provide the full picture of fission processes for the major actinides,” said Keegan Kelly, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “Throughout the course of this project, we have observed clear signatures of fission processes that in many cases were never observed in any previous experiment.”

The Los Alamos team’s final Chi-Nu study, on the isotope uranium-238, was recently published in Physical Review C. The experiment measured uranium-238’s prompt fission spectrum: the energy of the neutron inducing the fission—the neutron that crashes into a nucleus and splits it—and the potentially wide-ranging energy distribution (the spectrum) of the neutrons released as a result. Chi-Nu focuses on “fast-neutron-induced” fission, with incident neutron energies in millions of electron volts, where there have typically been very few measurements.

Microsoft is looking at next-generation nuclear reactors to power its data centers and AI, according to a new job listing for someone to lead the way.

Microsoft thinks next-generation nuclear reactors can power its data centers and AI ambitions, according to a job listing for a principal program manager who’ll lead the company’s nuclear energy strategy.

Data centers already use a hell of a lot of electricity, which could thwart the company’s climate goals unless it can find clean sources of energy. Energy-hungry AI makes that an even bigger challenge for the company to overcome. AI dominated Microsoft’s Surface event last week.


Microsoft is hiring someone to lead its nuclear strategy.