Because a nuclear explosion in a nuclear power plant is impossible due to the low fuel enrichment, the worst conceivable accident is a severe loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA), leading to a core meltdown. Although the nuclear fission and fusion process would be immediately stopped by a control rod insertion, the radioactive fission products would continue to generate decay heat in the fuel. Thus, a LOCA producing core uncovering could cause the fuel to melt. In the most extreme case, a molten mass would fall to the bottom of the reactor, melting through the reactor pressure vessel and the underlying concrete, and eventually coming to rest about 6.1 m (20 ft) underground. (more…)
Nuclear fission and fusion Research and Development continues to account for nearly half of the total spending by IEA countries, al ...
ITMA Foundation, a group of researchers formed by Javier Belzunce, José Manuel Artimez, Ana Moran and Ruben Coto, has developed the ...
In the United States, Department of Energy has determined that nuclear power accounts for about 21% of the total electricity ge ...
Nuclear power plants have many different designs and shapes. Early technology restrictions in nuclear power plants make huge ...
Sir Arthur Eddington’s general address on subatomic energy at the 1930 World Power Conference in Berlin stirred the imagination of ...
The continuous availability and affordability of energy and, in particular, electricity supply is an indispensable condition for the working of a well-functioning modern society. This is especially true for advanced industrial or post-industrial societies, where electricity generation provides the services essential for production, communication and exchange. Unsurprisingly, governments of OECD countries are thus concerned with understanding the factors influencing the security of energy and electricity supplies and seek to develop policy frameworks and strategies to enhance them. (more…)
Nuclear energy has some distinct advantages in strengthening the external dimension of energy supply security. These include: ...
Geopolitical risk refers almost always to primary energy carriers (oil, gas, coal, uranium or renewable energy) since their loc ...
In Europe, modern renewable energy sources technologies were explored thoroughly for the first time after the oil embargo/ price cr ...
Biomass has been a main energy sources in the world since the beginning of civilization. It has been important in development p ...
Following the recent completion of three nuclear power plants, there is now some 9.6 GW of nuclear capacity in the United Kingd ...
High-speed maglev technology offers four main advantages: non-contact operation; low-mass vehicles (on a per seat basis, maglev vehicles weigh approximately one-third to three-quarters as much as high speed trains); high speed; and wayside system control and self-propelled vehicles (each car contains its own secondary part of a linear synchronous motors).
Non-contact operation means that vehicle traction does not depend on adhesion between contact surfaces, e.g., wheels and rails. (more…)
A propulsion alternative is to transfer power to the vehicle and then have a magnetic structure on the vehicle that can create ...
Electrodynamic Suspension (EDS) can be viewed as an array of magnets moving over a conducting sheet and being pushed upwards by ...
Designers in China have launched the first wind turbine levitating in the world of permanent magnetic levitation (Maglev) in the Wi ...
All electromagnetic suspension-based systems employ some type of feedback control mechanism to maintain stable levitation. (An inte ...
Electromagnetic Suspension (EMS) system in which an array of magnets is attracted upwards to a steel rail. It is possible to de ...
It is a rare company prospectus that begins with a quotation from Goethe: “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” But Lovins is not a normal entrepreneur, as anyone who has met this eccentric and disheveled but unmistakably visionary thinker knows. The founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a leading green think tank based in Old Snowmass, Colorado, thinks the car industry’s incremental approach to cutting emissions and improving fuel efficiency will never amount to much. He wants a complete redesign of the automobile, from the bottom up, and intends to show the big boys how it should be done. (more…)
The leading automotive brands are being focused to produce electric vehicles because they believe they represent a harmony to the e ...
Mercedes-Benz presented at Geneva Style F800 Concept (the F stands for Mercedes: technology, design and art), a prototype that ...
Under both former President Bush and new President Obama, the U.S. government has vowed to reduce reliance on imported oil. The ...
This latter form of new car taxes can actually serve as an impediment to higher fuel economy to the extent that increased energ ...
There are different types of vehicle propulsion systems and the transportation fuels that have been studied for their potential ...