Some proposed technological innovations seem so far out that they are easy to reject out of hand. But sometimes, a new idea has a kernel of plausibility. Such is the case with a new project to develop a thorium laser power generation system that its creator says could provide electricity for the grid, stand-alone (more…)

An attempt to build the first brand-new nuclear power plant in a generation has taken a step forward now that staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says plans to build new reactors in Georgia meet safety requirements. The federal regulators issued two related safety reports Friday that cleared the (more…)

A new analysis being produced by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) estimates that a meltdown at a nuclear plant would cause far fewer human fatalities than previously believed.

While earlier studies calculated that a meltdown caused by a prolonged loss of electric power could (more…)

South Korea’s presidential office said in a press release that South Korean President Lee Myung-bak during a two-day state visit by Malaysian King Mizan Zainal Abidin discussed enhancing cooperation between the two countries in nuclear energy and other economic fields. (more…)

Abu Dhabi is commissioning a new set of nuclear plants for the first time in 2018, that will generate 25% of its power. I find this a bit hard to understand, since it’s happening just as countries like Germany and Italy are decommissioning their nuclear power. Also, Abu (more…)

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. (more…)

Despite recent safety concerns in the wake of the Fukushima crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to invest 1 billion euros in the next generation of nuclear power generation.

Saying that a moratorium on nuclear production “makes no sense,” Sarkozy said France will focus (more…)

You may surely know it by now : Germany decided to phase out completely all its nuclear power plants by 2022. This is done for political reasons as the local Greens are gaining power.

Some people are cheering as they believe this is (more…)

The German government has announced plans to phase out all of the nation’s nuclear reactors over the next 11 years, with the final plants targeted for closure in 2022.

In a policy reversal provoked by the nuclear crisis at Japan’s Fukushima plant, Chancellor Angela Merkel, (more…)

Germany responded swiftly to the Japanese nuclear crisis by announcing a decision to phase out its older nuclear stations. Japan followed a few weeks later saying that it intends to focus on renewable energy (although it won’t do away with nuclear power altogether). And now Switzerland is looking to (more…)