Our study suggests that living near a [nuclear power plant] may carry a measurable cancer risk - one that lessens with distance. We recommend that more studies be done that address the issue of NPPs and health impacts, particularly at a time when nuclear power is being promoted as a clean solution to climate change.
TerraPower is one of several companies racing to build smaller, more efficient reactors to augment electrical grids under strain from AI data centers. In a 2024 interview with The Verge, Bill Gates said that he also believes nuclear energy can help solve the climate crisis by using designs that minimize the problem in terms of their safety or fuel use or how they handle waste.
The Pentagon and the Energy Department for the first time airlifted a small nuclear reactor from California to Utah, demonstrating what they say is U.S. potential to quickly deploy nuclear power for military and civilian use. The nearly 700-mile flight last weekend — which transported a 5-megawatt microreactor without nuclear fuel — highlights the Trump administration's drive to promote nuclear energy to help meet skyrocketing demand for power from artificial intelligence and data centers, as well for use by the military.
Fusion power promises to supply the world with large amounts of clean heat and electricity, if researchers and engineers can solve some vexing challenges. At its core, fusion power seeks to harness the power of the Sun. To do that, fusion startups must figure out how to heat and compress plasma for long enough that atoms inside the mix fuse, releasing energy in the process.
The DOE issued a Request for Information (RFI) on Wednesday, seeking responses from states that may be interested in hosting the campuses, which will operate a "full‑cycle nuclear ecosystem." In practice, this means these sites will be expected to provide facilities for atomic waste reprocessing and disposal, in addition to fuel fabrication and enrichment. They may also serve as locations for nuclear reactors and co‑located datacenters powered by them.
Researchers working on China's 'artificial sun' have reported breaking a long-accepted threshold that has limited the operation of nuclear-fusion reactors for decades. China's Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) is a nuclear-fusion research reactor in Hefei. Researchers hope that it will one day produce clean, virtually limitless energy by replicating the fusion processes that power the Sun. In fusion reactors, light-weight atoms are compressed under extreme pressure and heat to form heavier atoms.
On Wednesday, Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority announced that it is halting the relicensing process for two reactors at the Hamaoka plant after revelations that the operator fabricated seismic hazard data. Japan has been slowly reactivating its extensive nuclear power plant collection after it was shut down following the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. The latest scandal is especially shocking, given that the Hamaoka plant is located on the coast near an active subduction fault-just as Fukushima Daiichi is.
Scientists at China's Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) program rang in the new year with a stunning accomplishment: empirical evidence that they used the device to achieve nuclear plasma densities once thought to be beyond human capabilities. On January 1, researchers at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences published a wild new study in the journal Science Advances.
Coal power generation fell in China and India for the first time since the 1970s last year, in a historic moment that could bring a decline in global emissions, according to analysis. The simultaneous fall in coal-powered electricity in the world's biggest coal-consuming countries had not happened since 1973, according to analysts at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and was driven by a record roll-out of clean energy projects.
