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Category: nuclear energy

In Brief:

Researchers have proposed an alternative way to generate super-strong magnetic fields that would solve the hindrances keeping us from harnessing the Faraday effect to its full use. More research and experimentation are needed to test the method.

In the quest to harness the powers of the Faraday effect, which would allow better control and management of nuclear fusion as well as astrophysical processes in laboratories, researchers propose a new way to generate stronger magnetic fields.

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That’s why researchers are hard at work on ways to make spacecraft power systems more efficient, resilient and long-lasting.

“NASA needs reliable long-term power systems to advance exploration of the solar system,” said Jean-Pierre Fleurial, supervisor for the thermal energy conversion research and advancement group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. “This is particularly important for the outer planets, where the intensity of sunlight is only a few percent as strong as it is in Earth orbit.”

A cutting-edge development in spacecraft power systems is a class of materials with an unfamiliar name: skutterudites (skut-ta-RU-dites). Researchers are studying the use of these advanced materials in a proposed next-generation power system called an eMMRTG, which stands for Enhanced Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator.

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China is developing the world’s smallest nuclear power plant which could be installed in one of the islands in the disputed South China Sea to supply power to households and is capable of running for up to decades without refuelling, a media report said on Tuesday.

Modelled on the compact lead-cooled thermal reactor used by the navy of the former Soviet Union in its nuclear submarines in the 1970s, Chinese researchers are carrying out intensive work to develop “portable nuclear battery pack” within five years, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

Earlier, the official media reports said China will soon start assembling floating maritime nuclear power platforms.

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China plans to build more than 60 nuclear power plants over the next 10 years.

The country’s three major nuclear companies — State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC), China National Nuclear Corporation, and China General Nuclear Power Corporation will each build at least two nuclear power plants annually.

SNPTC vice president Zheng Guangming made the announcement at the World Nuclear Association Symposium in London.

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One of the world’s deadliest nuclear powered attack submarines, the Yasen-class’s inclusion will add deeper strategic depth to Indian Navy’s Blue Water Naval ambitions.

India is interested in renting the multi-purpose Project 885 Yasen class submarine from Russia. This is being seen as a sign of another forthcoming India-Russia collaborative venture for the construction of six new SSN for Indian Navy.

NEW DLEHI — A high-level Indian delegation will be visiting Russia shortly to finalize an agreement on renting the Yasen class submarine for the Indian Navy.

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Researchers from the University of Rochester have detailed conditions where the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore can create five times more nuclear fusion yield than the current records.

Nuclear fusion is one of the Holy Grails of energy research. However, developments in this particular field have been more like baby steps rather than great strides.

But now, one study is significantly accelerating our (unfortunately) small steps towards nuclear fusion. Researchers working on the OMEGA laser at the Rochester University’s Laboratory of Laser Energetics (LLE) have found optimal conditions that could produce a fusion yield that’s five times higher than the current record.

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Russia and iran nuclear power plant partnership.

TEHRAN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) — Iran and Russia have agreed to build two nuclear power plants in Iran’s southern city of Bushehr shortly, Press TV reported on Thursday.

“Operations to build two new nuclear power plants in Bushehr will start on Sept. 10,” Press TV quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), as saying.

Construction of the power plants, with an estimated cost of 10 billion U.S. dollars, will be completed in 10 years, Salehi said.

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It would provide humankind with near limitless energy, ending dependence on fossil fuels for generating electricity.

US Government physicists have backed plans to create ‘a star in a jar’ — replicating on Earth the way the sun and stars create energy through fusion.

Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) revealed their plan for a next generation fusion device in a paper published in the journal Nuclear Fusion.

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