Ambient office = 158 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 125 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Part 1 of 2 Parts
     Actions are being taken by various countries to meet the target of tripling global nuclear power generating capacity by 2050. They were discussed by panelists during a session at the World Nuclear Symposium 2024. The panelists agreed that cooperation will be key to meeting the target.
     Last December, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) took place in Dubai. The one hundred and ninety-eight signatory countries to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change called for accelerating the deployment of low-emission energy technologies including nuclear power for deep and rapid decarbonization, especially in hard-to-abate sectors such as industry. More than twenty countries at COP28 pledged to work towards tripling global nuclear power capacity to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
     Sama Bilbao y León is the Director General of the World Nuclear Association. In his introduction to the session, he said that “new-found momentum in favor of nuclear power is taking shape in some countries around the world”.
     John Gorman is the president and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association. He described the momentum in Canada as “remarkable”. He continued, “We, as a nation, are doing just about everything right when it comes to nuclear.”
     He mentioned that Canada has “the entire ecosystem”. It is the second largest exporter of uranium in the world. It has an indigenous reactor technology, called Candu, which is in use in seven nations around the world. “We are refurbishing the vast majority of our existing nuclear plants, and importantly those refurbishments … are on time and on budget.”
     Gorman added that policymakers across Canada needed to be re-engaged in order to increase political support for new nuclear builds. “The roadmap that we created – which was a very collaborative effort, a pan-Canadian effort – to introduce small modular reactors (SMRs) into the system acted as a thin edge of the wedge for policymakers to feel comfortable to rediscover nuclear … Since the recognition and support for small modular reactors, it has opened up new large build.”
    He described SMRs as being very disruptive. “I mean disruptive in a very positive way. It’s forcing system operators, regulators and utilities to go through the process of rethinking how we introduce and deploy new nuclear. So disruption can be good and small modular reactors are good for that.”
     Huang Mingang is the Chief Economist of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). He said that nuclear energy currently represents about five percent of China’s total electricity generation. Coal plants account for the majority of the rest. He added that “If China wants to realize carbon peak and carbon neutrality, there is still a very long way to go. In the last month, the Chinese government approved eleven new reactor. In this case, the total number of reactors in China in operation and under construction and officially approved will be in the region of one hundred and two reactors. This is a milestone for Chinese nuclear energy.”
     Mingang said that, according to projections, by 2035 China will have one hundred and fifty nuclear power reactors in operation plus fifty reactors under construction.

Please read Part 2 nextally need to work together”.

Ambient office = 128 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 98 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

White onion from Central Market = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 95 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 88 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 89 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Tomato from Central Market = 114 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 89 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 57 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Red bell pepper from Central Market = 122 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 103 nanosieverts per hour

     Uranium trichloride (UCl3) is a molten salt under extremely high temperatures. It holds the key to unlocking the full potential of next-generation nuclear reactors. When transformed into a liquid state, its unique properties offer unparalleled opportunities to rethink nuclear fuel technology and improve reactor safety and efficiency.
     Researchers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and their collaborators have carefully documented the elusive structure and complex chemistry dynamics of high-temperature liquid UCl3 salt. The research identifies this substance as a promising source of nuclear fuel. Their critical insights prepare for designing safer, more efficient, and innovative reactors that could reshape the future of nuclear energy.
     Santanu Roy is an ORNL researcher. In a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, he noted that this is a first critical step in enabling better predictive models for the design of future reactors. He added that “A better ability to predict and calculate the microscopic behaviors is critical to design, and reliable data helps develop better models.”
     For decades, molten salt reactors have been advertised as a promising solution for producing safe and affordable nuclear energy. ORNL’s prototyping experiments in the 1960s first demonstrated the potential of this technology. With the global push for decarbonization, there has been renewed interest in making these reactors commercially available.
     However, designing the ideal reactor requires a deep understanding of how liquid fuel salts behave, particularly those involving actinide elements such as uranium. Molten salts melt at extremely high temperatures. They exhibit complex ion-ion coordination, making them challenging to study.
     The research study was a collaboration between ORNL, Argonne National Laboratory, and the University of South Carolina. The team utilized a combination of computational approaches and advanced facilities such as the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). The SNS is one of the brightest neutron sources in the world. It allowed the team to perform state-of-the-art neutron scattering studies. This enabled them to measure the chemical bond lengths of molten UCl3 for the first time.
Alex Ivanov co-led the study. He said, “I’ve been studying actinides and uranium since I joined ORNL as a postdoc. But I never expected that we could go to the molten state and find fascinating chemistry.” The study revealed that, unlike most substances, the bonds between uranium and chlorine contracted rather than expanded as the substance became liquid.
     One of the most surprising discoveries of the study was the inconsistent behavior of the bonds. They oscillated between expanded and contracted states at ultra-fast speeds. Ivanov noted that “This is an uncharted part of chemistry and reveals the fundamental atomic structure of actinides under extreme conditions.” The bond lengths showed varying patterns, occasionally becoming shorter and temporarily transforming from an ionic to a more covalent nature. This fleeting change helped explain problems in previous studies. These findings will improve both experimental and computational approaches to reactor design. They will also shed light on challenges such as nuclear waste management and pyroprocessing.
     The insights gained from this study not only expand our understanding of molten uranium salts but also highlight their potential in revolutionizing nuclear energy production. The unpredictable behavior of UCl3 is now more clearly defined. The path to developing more efficient and safer nuclear reactors has become clearer.
     These major breakthroughs could play a crucial role in dealing with challenges related to nuclear waste, pyroprocessing, and the advancement of sustainable nuclear technologies. By improving predictive models and expanding the knowledge of molten salt behavior, researchers are one step closer to creating fission reactors that can help meet global energy demands while minimizing environmental impact.
     Nuclear energy remains a key player in the race toward decarbonization. The discoveries in this study offer hope for more reliable, scalable, and eco-friendly energy solutions in the near future.