For technical conferences where people are trying to discuss ongoing work, I've been saying it makes way more sense to send the papers and pre-recorded presentations in advance so we can watch them on the plane. Then just have the whole in-person thing be discussion and networking with a few events.
Highly flawed, dubious science: bsky.app/profile/what...
The scientific methods used are dubious at best. Critique here: bsky.app/profile/what...
The studies are quite weak: bsky.app/profile/what...
Pretty good critique here: bsky.app/profile/what...
Those studies are extremely weak. bsky.app/profile/what...
Those new studies linking nuclear plant proximity to cancer use very weak scientific methods. No dose assessment, no control group. It's shameful that they passed peer review. Takedown here: www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/two-new-pa...
These studies use very weak scientific methods. It's shameful that they passed peer review. Takedown here: www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/two-new-pa...
Ha. I didn't want to rain on the parade. Most posts said it's the first time a reactor has been shipped on a C-17, which as far as I know is true. But yeah we've shipped many reactors in planes, even an operating one!
Visiting the Nuclear Ship Savannah in person is worth traveling to Baltimore for, especially since they recently opened up the reactor vessel. Saturday, February 21st. www.ans.org/news/2026-02... @americannuclear.bsky.social
This has to be the fastest way to add 10 GW of new nuclear capacity in the US (uprating existing reactors!) www.wsj.com/business/ene...?
ICYMI: @whatisnuclear.com digitized this 1967 film about the BONUS reactor, in Puerto Rico. Superheated steam from a boiling water reactor!
whatisnuclear.com/news/2023-09...
Because SpaceX is profitable and xAI needs lots of cash to win the AI race, so the AI-in-space thing is just a ruse to get access to the SpaceX funds. Data centers on nuclear-powered offshore platforms is the version of this that makes sense from energy, water, and land scarcity POV
Have you ever wondered if small nuclear reactors could possibly beat out the economies of scale from large reactors? Check out my latest report @theniaorg.bsky.social “Right-Sizing Reactors: Balancing trade-offs between economies of scale and volume” tinyurl.com/bdhz27wt
Good stuff. I would add that maritime environments offer another potentially unbounded opportunity for medium-sized reactors. These environments are conducive to reactor manufacturing (shipyard + float to site) and constrained in size by typical vessel structures.
The classic mouse trap and ping pong ball demo, from Martin Marietta.
Only problem is that the mouse traps flying around set off other mouse traps, dramatically increasing keff. They should have glued them to the bottom.
(VHS quality because, well, it was on VHS)
Micros are ideal for rapid iteration of advanced reactors, and may be the best pathway to find new starting points to scale up from.
I have a slight scold in there for people who assert that their microreactors will compete in commodity power markets rather than novel ones.
Did I miss any?
I made a new 'microreactors' page.
Benefits:
1. Novel power markets
2. Manufactured product
3. Within reach of VC
4. Fewer radionuclides
Challenges:
1. Economies of scale
2. Tyranny of neutron diffusion
3. Shielding
whatisnuclear.com/microreactor...
Presenting: A 1980s film describing uranium enrichment using gaseous diffusion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5gN...
🍿⚛️ Today we have: "Managing Radioactive Waste At the Nevada Test Site", a 1980 film from DOE, freshly scanned off of U-matic video cassette kindly provided to me by Prof. Ron Knief. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Jd...
Check out the state of nuclear fusion research as it stood in 1988 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuss...
It's not that advanced reactors aren't and can never be economical (that's crazy), but they haven't been economical so far (for very specific reasons) and have a steep hill to climb to achieve viability. As always, the only way to climb it is to build build build. www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2JL...
Those were the highlights. Here's the full 12-mins in documentary form www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LVq...
I think those people may have had the best jobs ever.
Nuclear waste transport cask testing... with Red Alert music
cooling tower diagram
build your own turbine activity
build a two-pole motor activity
put electrons on the move activity
At the end the girl says to check out "The Harnessed Atom" at the Dept of Energy. It's a teacher's lesson guide for nuclear lessons with tons of cool activities. www.energy.gov/ne/articles/...
90s kids explain nuclear energy.
youtu.be/6Cwkk2mMM64?...
Flash animations from the 2006 version of whatisnuclear dot com, made by yours truly.
"This is what they stole from us" 😂
Neat site that explains the value of clean firm resources like nuclear, hydro, and geothermal in a highly decarbonized grid
nathandiyer.github.io/clean-energy...
