I have blogged before about NASA’s use of nuclear isotopes for thermal batteries in space probes. Nuclear batteries provide the long term reliable and maintenance free power needed for long space missions. Now NASA is considering the use of nuclear fission reactors fueled with uranium for installations on Mars.
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) have been working on the science of scintillators which can be used to detect nuclear threats. They have made a significant breakthrough that will allow such devices to be both more efficient and cheaper to make.
In 2010, the Stuxnet computer worm was discovered in the centrifuge control systems in Iran’s nuclear program. It did a great deal of damage to the infected systems. It was designed to influence control systems for industrial equipment. Among other things, it caused some of the centrifuges to spin so fast that they were destroyed.
I recently wrote a post about problems at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The LANL is not the only national laboratory with a poor record for safety. Other national labs transgressions have also been reported by government inspectors.
Helium is a chemical element with He for the symbol and it has an atomic number of two. It is next most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen. About twenty four percent of the elemental mass of the universe is helium. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas.
Canada turned on its first nuclear reactor in 1971. Canadian reactors are pressurized heavy-water reactors based on a Canadian design referred to as CANDU. The Canadians have sold CANDU reactors to India, Pakistan, Argentina, South Korea, Romania and China. There are currently nineteen commercial power reactors operating in Canada. All but two of them are in Ontario.
