Of Interest archive

President Barack Obama has announced that he will nominate Dr. Ernest Moniz to head the US Department of Energy as Secretary.

Dr. Moniz served as Undersecretary of Energy from 1997 to 2001, overseeing all science and energy programs for DOE as well as the national laboratory system. He led a comprehensive review of the US nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship program, enhanced the science and technology of environmental cleanup, and was the DOE special negotiator for Russia initiatives, focusing on disposal of Soviet-era nuclear materials. Before that, Moniz was an Associate Director for Science in the Clinton White House from 1995 to 1997.

Read the full article at Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/03/09/will-secretary-moniz-put-energy-back-into-the-department-of-energy/

The United States would incur higher carbon dioxide emissions, a potentially steep rise in electricity prices and suffer a drop in gross domestic product if it were to abandon nuclear power.   That's the conclusion of two experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), writing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Their analytical essay is part of a package in the publication's new edition that presents arguments both for and against the continuation of nuclear.   Read more at: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/mit-experts-nuclear-exit-would…

An 18-metre-tall machine is attempting to harness nuclear fusion, the reaction that powers the Sun, to create electricity. "By the end of the century, 30 per cent of global energy could be generated by nuclear fusion," says Francesco Romanelli, leader of the team of scientists operating the Joint European Torus (JET). Based in Culham, Oxfordshire, JET is a collaborative project between 26 European countries and, at 16mW, it's the continent's largest fusion device.   In October 2012 it put its electricity-generating experiments on hold to test the suitability of a new structural material -- a combination of beryllium and tungsten -- that can withstand temperatures "up to 20 times hotter than the Sun," says Romanelli. Since this new material proved far more resilient than the current carbon walls, it will now be included in the design of all large-scale commercial fusion devices.   Read more here: http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/03/start/fusion-hots-up

All the world's nuclear power plants generate electricity by splitting atoms in a process known as nuclear fission.

But now, Japan is taking a leading role in developing production of electricity by means of nuclear fusion, the process that powers stars and the Sun. In this nuclear reaction, atomic nuclei collide at very high speed and join to form a new type of atomic nucleus, emitting vast amounts of heat and energy.

Scientists have been working to harness nuclear fusion as a next-generation energy source.

This week, Japanese and European scientists began assembling an advanced nuclear fusion testing facility northeast of Tokyo in Naka, Ibaraki Prefecture. The site is on Japan's Pacific coast 143 kilometers (89 miles) south of Fukushima Daiichi.

Read more here