Week 15 of 2023
Three nuclear energy innovation news!
💡 Three nuclear energy innovation news this week!
🔥 Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (accidentaly) discover that a phenomenon in fusion tokamaks, called the X-point radiator, dissipates more UV energy than previously assumed. They further demonstrate it can be controlled to reduce the distance between the plasma and the vessel wall. This paves the way towards smaller, hence cheaper, fusion reactors.
⛰️ The US Government Accountability Office publishes a technology assessment report identifying the challenges to overcome in order to achieve commercial fusion. This includes the development of high-temperature superconducting magnets, a better understand the physics of plasmas, as well as materials that can withstand fusion conditions for decades.
🌼 Tokamak Energy (UK) releases the first images of its commercial fusion power plant (picture below). Its first prototype spherical tokamak will be built at the UK Atomic Energy Authority's Culham Campus near Oxford by 2026. A second prototype, able to produce up to 200 MW of net electrical power, is planned for the early 2030s.
🎓 Paper of the week: "Rapid survey of de novo mutations in naturally growing tree species following the March 2011 disaster in Fukushima: the effect of low-dose-rate radiation", Environment International (2023). https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.107893
📣 Spoiler alert: "no significant increase in the mutation rate of the germplasm of Japanese cedar and flowering cherry trees growing in the contaminated areas".
