• share
• favorite_border

Discerning whether a nuclear reactor is being used to also create material for nuclear weapons is difficult, but capturing and analyzing antimatter particles has shown promise for monitoring what specific nuclear reactor operations are occurring, even from hundreds of miles away. Researchers have developed a detector that exploits Cherenkov radiation, sensing antineutrinos and characterizing their energy profiles from miles away as a way of monitoring activity at nuclear reactors. They proposed to assemble their device in northeast England and detect antineutrinos from reactors from all over the U.K. as well as in northern France.

• share
• favorite_border

Three Mile Island, the nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania that鈥檚 been shuttered since 2019, could come back to life to meet Microsoft鈥檚 energy needs. ...

• share
• favorite_border

An international collaboration to protect the world from nuclear threats got a boost in 2023 when a visiting researcher brought an understudied plutonium processing chemistry method to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for hands-on research.聽鈥淚t鈥檚 not trivial to bring an outside researcher to PNNL and get them working in a glove box,鈥� said PNNL nuclear forensics scientist and technical group leader Dave Meier.

• share
• favorite_border

Argonne scientists designed a way to optimize discovery of nuclear material coatings and identified a promising new candidate along the way.

• share
• favorite_border

Testing weapons and components in a lab-controlled environment has always been at the center of Sandia National Laboratories鈥� mission. A newly developed method is getting better results, with fewer tests, in less time.

• share
• favorite_border

The fusion of two nuclei is a complex process influenced by the relative energy and angular momentum of the nuclei and how their structures evolve as they collide. In this study, the researchers performed the most comprehensive computation to date of fusion reaction processes.

• share
• favorite_border

An assessment ranks the feasibility of converting 245 operational coal power plants in the U.S. into advanced nuclear reactors, providing valuable insights for policymakers and utilities to meet decarbonization goals, according to a new study by University of Michigan researchers.

• share
• favorite_border

The safety and efficiency of a large, complex nuclear reactor can be enhanced by hardware as simple as a tiny sensor that monitors a cooling system. That鈥檚 why researchers at the Department of Energy鈥檚 Oak Ridge National Laboratory are working to make those basic sensors more accurate by pairing them with electronics that can withstand the intense radiation inside a reactor.

• share
• favorite_border

According to the report, China鈥檚 state-backed technology approach and extensive financing has given Beijing an edge. ...

• share
• favorite_border

In a whirling geopolitical landscape of new nuclear weapons, hypersonic weapons, drones and satellites, the U.S. is hustling to test new kinds of radars aimed at detecting evolving threats. Many of these tests take place in a simulated research environment created at Sandia National Laboratories.

• share
• favorite_border

Global production of LED lights, wind turbine generators, EV batteries and more require critical materials that are in high demand. A new report, led by scientists at Argonne National Laboratory, assesses rare materials and their supply.

• share
• favorite_border

The year-long project seeks to examine the risks to export control that still-developing SMR technology will play for the next several decades.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Dissecting doorbells, exploring music, mastering retail software, love of the arts and old-fashioned hard work were early paths that led five Sandia National Laboratories engineers to their callings and recently earned them national Black Engineer of the Year Awards.

• share
• favorite_border

University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, announced today that UMSOM faculty scientists have been selected as key contractors by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), for the federal agency鈥檚 Radiation Nuclear Animal Model Development program.

• share
• favorite_border

Robert Petterborg saw an opportunity to improve a critical part used to test a weapons system. Using his spare time at work and with the help of his Sandia National Laboratories colleagues, he designed a new cable connector that eliminates misalignments that could interfere with testing and potentially damage hardware.