Questions tagged [nuclear-energy]

the energy released during nuclear fission or fusion, especially when used to generate electricity.

52 questions
10
votes
2 answers

Has public faith in nuclear power decreased significantly after the Fukushima accident?

There seems to be a consensus in the media the the events in Fukushima have significantly decreased the public's approval of nuclear energy. See for example this article by the Telegraph. Is there any evidence to back this up or is this just…
James H. Kelly
  • 437
  • 2
  • 7
9
votes
0 answers

Could Iran produce a nuclear weapon in under a year if they wanted to?

For over 30 years, politicians from Israel and the US have said that "Iran will have a nuclear weapon in less than a year". [Christian Science Monitor timeline of these warnings] Some more examples: For: USA Today, Sep 2008 For: Wall Street…
Alex Mor
  • 441
  • 4
  • 8
9
votes
1 answer

"Photodeactivation" of nuclear waste

I don't know enough atomic physics to know whether this is even plausible or not: Brown built a small prototype plant, which bombarded radioactive elements with high energy photon radiation, in the form of X-rays produced by an accelerator.…
Benjol
  • 1,175
  • 1
  • 12
  • 20
9
votes
1 answer

Has first cancer case been directly confirmed to Fukushima cleanup?

Slashdot reports First Cancer Case Confirmed From Fukushima Cleanup: Following on from reports of elevated levels of child cancer and 1,600 civilians deaths from the evacuation, this is the first time that one of the 44,000 people involved in the…
cnst
  • 814
  • 6
  • 18
8
votes
2 answers

Did the isolation condensors fail at Fukushima Daiichi? Was human error involved?

The reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan were overflowed by a tsunami following the Tohaku earthquake of 2011. Consequently, a power outage at the station disabled the cooling system, which lead to core melts in three…
user7358
  • 181
  • 4
6
votes
1 answer

Is most intermediate level radioactive waste according to UK regulations barely radioactive?

Lester Haines writes in Sellafield's nuclear waste measured in El Reg units: Most intermediate level waste is barely radioactive at all. If you put a completely legal luminous watch in a barrel containing half a tonne of dirt, that dirt would…
Christian
  • 33,271
  • 15
  • 112
  • 266
6
votes
1 answer

Did Ahmadinejad say that enriching Uranium to 20% made no economic sense?

A Foreign Policy "argument" article from January 2012 contains this part What has raised the world’s suspicions is that Iran continues to produce 20 percent enriched uranium despite the fact that this exceeds its civilian needs and, as President…
Fizz
  • 57,051
  • 18
  • 175
  • 291
6
votes
1 answer

Is Belgium restarting a nuclear reactor that suffered a fire and explosion and contains 16,000 cracks, without safety checks?

Campaigning group Avaaz have launching an alarming petition, signed by 350,000 people at time of writing: Belgium: Stop the next Chernobyl Nuclear experts are scared: Belgium has just restarted two ancient and cracked nuclear power plants that…
user56reinstatemonica8
  • 8,942
  • 5
  • 40
  • 51
5
votes
0 answers

Did Robert Brownlee express a belief that a manhole cover was launched into space by a nuclear test?

According to Snopes: the above-mentioned Brownlee doesn't believe the metal cap launched into space. However Business Insider states: Robert Brownlee, an astrophysicist who designed the nuclear test in question, told Insider the unbelievable…
DavePhD
  • 103,432
  • 24
  • 436
  • 464
5
votes
1 answer

Is the production of nuclear power very expensive?

Reuters recently published the following piece: Nuclear energy too slow, too expensive to save climate: report Inside, it says: The cost of generating solar power ranges from $36 to $44 per megawatt hour (MWh), the WNISR said, while onshore wind…
einpoklum
  • 2,101
  • 10
  • 28
5
votes
1 answer

Did irradiated Chernobyl firefighters re-volunteer to avoid others being affected?

I don t have any link to the claim right now, but it is heavily repeated where I live. I'll edit to add a link later A commonly repeated story says that the firefighters that were tasked to stop the fires in the Chernobyl reactor, rather than…
DrakaSAN
  • 270
  • 1
  • 8
5
votes
1 answer

Must Japan's population pay for any accident caused by nuclear power plants sold abroad by Japanese companies?

This image is currently trending on social media: source The caption reads: 海外で日本の売った原発が事故を起こした場合、その費用はすべて日本国民の税金から支払う約束になっていりる If a nuclear power plant sold abroad by Japan causes an accident, then the costs are promised to be paid entirely by…
nic
  • 1,466
  • 2
  • 14
  • 23
4
votes
1 answer

Is the Rossi Focardi LENR true?

Italian inventor Andrea Rossi claims to have discovered cold fusion. There is a history of dis-proven discoveries in this area. How were they debunked and are the arguments applicable to the new case…
Roland Kofler
  • 295
  • 1
  • 8
4
votes
0 answers

Is there a viable design for a thorium car that can run for 100 years without being refueled?

This article and included video from Young Turks claims that Laser Power Systems has produced a "concept for a car" which can run for 100 years on 8 grams of thorium without needing t be refueled. While I believe a car powered by thorium may be…
3
votes
0 answers

It is feasible to produce energy at 2ct/KWh using alpha-, beta- and gammavoltaics?

At Tuesdays COP26 session called Economics of Climate Change a company called Infinite Power proposed a carbon neutral way to provide baseload for electricity grid. Their technology claims work by a "kinetic junction" a p-n junction optimized to…