nuclear-power

Now You Can Have Your Dead Body Melted

Hamilton Nolan · 08/30/11 04:05PM

German reactors! Hurricane prediction! Spatial men! Mind microbes! Mysterious Demisovans! Green office! Faster boarding! Space danger! And the liquid corpse option has arrived! It's your Tuesday Science Watch, where we watch science—posthumously!

Could It Happen Here? A Map Of Nuclear Risk

Remy Stern · 04/24/11 11:35AM

Nature News and Columbia University have joined forces to make a Google Earth map showing the world populations at risk from nuclear fallout. The interactive map combines data on population and the locations and sizes of reactors, plotting risk graphically in the form of circles. Small, green circles represent relatively low risk, based on population size near the nuclear plants; mid-sized yellow circles represent greater risk, with large red circles representing the greatest risk.

The Dim Future of Nuclear Power

Remy Stern · 03/26/11 02:24PM

It's highly unlikely that you're going to see any new nuclear power plants built any time in the future, given the now worsening situation at Fukushima. But knee-jerk reactions to the accident are not what's really to blame for the inevitable decline in nuclear production.

The First Photos from Inside the Fukushima Nuclear Plant

Max Read · 03/23/11 09:06PM

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency released the first round of photographs from the interior of the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, where 180 workers, operating in rotating shifts, are struggling to contain and control the release of radiation.

The Latest News from Japan

Max Read · 03/15/11 11:26PM

Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis escalated on Wednesday, as authorities acknowledged that a second reactor at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have been compromised. All but 50 workers have been evacuated from the complex as radiation levels surged and emergency workers struggle to deal with a fire at yet another reactor.

The Latest News from Japan

Jim Newell · 03/15/11 12:33PM

The good news, which is not really "good" news much at all, is that Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactors didn't all fully melt down in the last 12 hours. That may sound cynical, but if you were following the fast developments in last night's news, a total nuclear catastrophe really did seem imminent. It's still unclear, though, how much radiation is leaking into the air, and another mid-size (6.1 magnitude) earthquake did strike southwest of Tokyo overnight. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasuries are soaring! Here's the latest news.

Japan on Brink of 'Nuclear Catastrophe' After New Blast

Max Read · 03/14/11 07:50PM

After an early-morning explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station damaged one reactor's steel containment vessel and spurred the removal of emergency workers, officials expanded the evacuation zone and braced for "much larger emissions of radioactive materials." How bad are we talking? "It's way past Three Mile Island already," physicist Frank von Hippel tells The New York Times.

The Latest Japanese Disaster News

Jim Newell · 03/14/11 05:17PM

It's Tuesday morning in Japan now, and the country's damaged nuclear reactors still face the prospect of melting down. The desperate move to cool overheated fuel rods with seawater has run into some problems. The death toll is above 10,000. As if this weren't enough, estimates are already trickling in for the country's staggering reconstruction costs. If you have the masochistic need to read any further, here's a roundup of the latest news.