According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC): The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was created as an independent agency by Congress in 1974 to ensure the safe use of radioactive materials for beneficial civilian purposes while protecting people and the environment. The NRC regulates commercial nuclear power plants and other uses of nuclear materials, […]
RECENT reporting of a huge radiation measurement at Unit 2 in the Fukushima Daichi reactor complex does not signify that there is a peak in radiation in the reactor building. All that it indicates is that, for the first time, the Japanese have been able to measure the intense radiation given off by the molten […]
Officially, the U.S. government ended its study of UFOs in 1969 because — it assured the public — there is no proof the phenomena represents a threat to national security. But what if these unknown aircraft showed an interest in our nuclear weapons? A group of more than 150 military veterans, missile officers, and security […]
North Korea has restarted production of plutonium fuel, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday, showing that it plans to pursue its nuclear weapons program in defiance of international sanctions. The U.S. assessment came a day after the U.N. nuclear watchdog said it had “indications” that Pyongyang has reactivated a plant to recover […]
CALLAWAY COUNTY, Mo.—The 31-year-old Callaway Energy Center is doing some heavy lifting. Missouri’s lone nuclear power plant produces 11.7 percent of the state’s electricity from one reactor cranking out 1.2 gigawatts, making it the third-largest electricity producer in the state. Its 553-foot-tall, cloud-spewing cooling tower is the second-tallest structure in Missouri behind the St. Louis […]
Last week, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) submitted the first-ever permit application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a small modular nuclear reactor. The TVA’s application comes as a huge milestone in the pathway of small modular reactors (often abbreviated SMRs) from the laboratory to the marketplace, and brings a glimmer of hope […]
The destructive power of nuclear bombs has been seared into our collective memory, thanks to archival images of the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There’s the blast itself, and then all the radioactive fallout to contend with. A new interactive map shows what the damage from fallout would be if nuclear bombs were dropped on […]
North Korea said it would strengthen its defensive nuclear weapons capability, the official KCNA news agency reported on Monday, a decision adopted in defiance of U.N. resolutions at a rare congress of its ruling Workers’ Party. The congress, which ended on Monday after four days, was the first in 36 years, and secretive North Korea […]
