fission

Scott Anderson, a researcher at the Idaho National Laboratory's Irradiated Materials Characterization Lab, works with materials in a "glovebox" as part of the lab's research into how exposure to radiation alters reactor components. The lab's research is aimed at understanding how materials and fuels respond to radiation, which is crucial data as licenses for existing nuclear reactors are extended. (Robert Zullo/ States Newsroom)

With decarbonization, advocates see a bright future for nuclear after decades of dormancy

BY: - April 24, 2023

IDAHO FALLS, Id.  — At the sprawling array of laboratories and test facilities in the southeastern Idaho desert where the U.S. nuclear power industry was born more than 70 years ago, past, present and future are converging. Not far from where the first reactor to ever produce usable electricity made history in 1951, Idaho National […]

To create fusion ignition, the National Ignition Facility’s laser energy is converted into X-rays inside the hohlraum, a cylindrical device, which then compress a fuel capsule until it implodes, creating a high temperature, high pressure plasma. (Photo courtesy of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

Scientists announce a fusion breakthrough with big implications for clean energy 

BY: - December 13, 2022

Scientists at a U.S. national laboratory announced Tuesday that they achieved fusion ignition, a breakthrough decades in the making that could have major implications for clean energy.  Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco said that on Dec. 5, for the first time anywhere in the world, they managed to produce more […]