Science

1st Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Certified For Use In US

Published

2 years ago

2023-01-22

The design for the first small modular nuclear reactor in the United States has been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The rule that certifies the design was published in the Federal Register on Thursday. Companies that want to build and run a nuclear power plant can choose NuScale Power’s design for a 50-megawatt advanced light-water small modular nuclear reactor and apply for a license from the NRC.

NRC spokesperson Scott Burnell said Friday that the design cannot be legally challenged during the licensing process when someone wants to build and run a nuclear power plant. This is because it is the final decision on whether or not the design can be used. The rule goes into effect in late February.

The US Energy Department says that the newly approved design “equips the nation with a new clean power source to help drive down” greenhouse gas emissions.

It is the seventh nuclear reactor design approved in the United States. The remainder is for conventional, large, light-water reactors.

This Is A Big Step Towards Clean Energy

Diane Hughes, vice president of marketing and communications at NuScale, says that the design certification is a big step toward a future with clean energy and makes the company’s VOYGR power plant a solution that customers can use soon. Hughes also said that the first application package for the design of a small reactor had more than 2 million pages of supporting materials. the first small modular reactor design application package included over 2 million pages of supporting materials.

However, David Schlissel of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis in Ohio expressed reservations about the costs. Schlissel, who has studied the history of the nuclear power industry and the NuScale project’s finances, believes they will continue to rise, potentially limiting the number of NuScale reactors built. He believes they need to be more price competitive with renewables and battery storage.

Hughes stated that energy projects ranging from wind and solar to hydrogen and nuclear had seen cost increases due to changing financial market dynamics, interest rate hikes, and inflationary pressures on the sector’s supply chain not seen in decades. She said that NuScale’s VOYGR power plant is still a cost-effective source of reliable, affordable, and carbon-free energy.

Nuclear Is A way To Distance itself From Coal, Oil And Natual Gas

Nuclear Power is emerging as an answer for many as states and countries transition away from coal, oil, and natural gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the worst effects of global warming.

Around 40 serious concepts for the next generation of advanced nuclear reactors are being developed globally. China was the first to connect a next-generation reactor to its grid, producing approximately 200 megawatts of Power. In 2021, a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor went into operation.

Since 2014, the US Energy Department has contributed more than $600 million to the design, and siting of NuScale’s VOYGR small modular reactor power plant. At the Idaho National Laboratory, the department collaborates with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems to demonstrate a six-module NuScale VOYGR plant. The first module should be operational by 2029.

NuScale has signed 19 agreements in the United States and worldwide to deploy its small reactor technology. According to Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Kathryn Huff, small modular reactors are no longer an abstract concept.

NuScale has also applied to the NRC for approval of a larger design, with a capacity of 77 megawatts per module, and the agency is checking the application for completeness before beginning a full review, according to Burnell.

SOURCE – (AP)

Kiara Grace

Kiara Grace is a staff writer at VORNews, a reputable online publication. Her writing focuses on technology trends, particularly in the realm of consumer electronics and software. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for breaking down complex topics. Kiara delivers insightful analyses that resonate with tech enthusiasts and casual readers alike. Her articles strike a balance between in-depth coverage and accessibility, making them a go-to resource for anyone seeking to stay informed about the latest innovations shaping our digital world.

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Science

A Spacecraft Is On Its Way To A Harmless Asteroid Slammed By NASA In A Previous Save-The-Earth Test

Published

4 weeks ago

2024-10-10

Kiara Grace

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – A spacecraft launched Monday to probe the site of a cosmic accident.

The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft launched on a two-year trip to the little, harmless asteroid slammed by NASA two years ago as a practice run for the day when a murderous space rock threatens Earth. It’s the second phase of a planetary defense experiment that could one day save the globe.

SpaceX’s Falcon rocket vanished with Hera into the late morning clouds. An hour later, cheering erupted in the control center in Germany as the spacecraft split from the rocket’s upper stage and returned home. “It’s an amazing day,” the space agency’s director general, Josef Aschbacher, said later.

The 2022 crash of NASA’s Dart spacecraft reduced Dimorphos’ orbit around its larger companion, indicating that if a harmful rock was heading our way, it might be pushed off course with adequate warning.

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A Spacecraft Is On Its Way To A Harmless Asteroid Slammed By NASA In A Previous Save-The-Earth Test

Scientists are eager to analyze the aftermath of the impact up close to determine how effective Dart was and what improvements may be required to protect Earth in the future.

“The more detail we can glean the better as it may be important for planning a future deflection mission should one be needed,” University of Maryland astronomer Derek Richardson stated before launch.

Researchers want to know if Dart (short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test) created a crater or changed the 500-foot (150-meter) asteroid more dramatically. It seemed to be a flying saucer before Dart’s blow and may now resemble a kidney bean, according to Richardson, who participated in the Dart mission and is assisting Hera.

Dart’s wallop sent rubble and boulders hurtling off Dimorphos, adding to the impact’s momentum. For months, the debris track extended thousands of miles (almost 10,000 kilometers) into space.

According to flight director Ignacio Tanco, some rocks and debris may still be hovering about the asteroid, posing a threat to Hera.

A Spacecraft Is On Its Way To A Harmless Asteroid Slammed By NASA In A Previous Save-The-Earth Test

“We don’t really know very well the environment in which we are going to operate,” Tanco informed me. “But that’s the whole point of the mission is to go there and find out.”

European authorities refer to the $400 million (363 million euros) effort as a “crash scene investigation.”

“Hera is going back to the crime scene and getting all the scientific and technical information,” said project manager Ian Carnelli.

Carrying a dozen science instruments, the compact car-sized Hera must swing past Mars in 2025 for a gravitational boost before landing at Dimorphos by the end of 2026. It’s a moonlet of Didymos, the Greek word for twin, a five-times larger asteroid that spins quickly. At that point, the asteroids will be 120 million miles (195 million kilometers) from Earth.

Hera will attempt to enter orbit around the rocky duo, progressively reducing flyby distances from 18 miles (30 kilometers) to a half-mile (1 kilometer). The spacecraft will examine the moonlet for at least six months to determine its mass, shape, composition, and orbit around Didymos.

Before the crash, Dimorphos circled its larger partner from three-quarters of a mile (1,189 meters) away. Scientists believe the orbit has become tighter and more oval-shaped, and that the moonlet may be tumbling.

Two shoebox-sized Cubesats will launch from Hera for even closer drone-like examinations, with one employing radar to peek beneath the moonlet’s boulder-strewn surface. Scientists believe Dimorphos was produced from particles shed by Didymos. The radar measurements should assist in determining whether Didymos is the small moon’s parent.

A Spacecraft Is On Its Way To A Harmless Asteroid Slammed By NASA In A Previous Save-The-Earth Test

After their survey, the CubeSats will attempt to land on the moonlet. If the moonlet tumbles, the situation will become more complicated. Hera may potentially conclude its mission with a perilous touchdown but on the bigger Didymos.

Neither asteroid poses a threat to Earth, before or after Dart appeared. That is why NASA chose the pair for humanity’s first asteroid-deflecting demonstration.

Asteroids, which are remnants of the solar system’s origin 4.6 billion years ago, circle the sun principally between Mars and Jupiter in what is known as the main asteroid belt, where millions of them live. When they fall from the belt and land in our area, they become near-Earth objects.

NASA now has around 36,000 near-Earth objects, the majority of which are asteroids, although there are also some comets. More than 2,400 of them are deemed potentially dangerous to the Earth.

SOURCE | AP

Kiara Grace

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Science

A Rare Comet Brightens The Night Skies In October

Published

4 weeks ago

2024-10-09

Kiara Grace

NEW YORK — Prepare to spot a rare and dazzling comet.

The space rock is hurling toward Earth from the far reaches of the solar system and will make its closest approach on Saturday. It should be visible through the end of October, assuming clear skies.

A Rare Comet Brightens The Night Skies In October

Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas should be visible to the naked eye, but binoculars and telescopes will provide a clearer view.

“It’ll be this fuzzy circle with a long tail stretching away from it,” explained Sally Brummel, planetarium manager at the Bell Museum in Minnesota.

What is a comet?
They are frozen remains from billions of years ago when the solar system was formed. They heat up as they swing toward the sun, revealing their distinctive streaming tails.

In 2023, a green one that had last visited Earth 50,000 years ago flew past again. Other significant flybys were Neowise in 2020 and Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake in the mid to late 1990s.

Where did Tsuchinshan-Atlas come from?
Also known as C/2023 A3, was found last year and named after the observatories in China and South Africa that spotted it.

It originated in the Oort Cloud, which extends far beyond Pluto. After making its closest approach to Earth at 44 million miles (71 million kilometers), it will not return for another 80,000 years, provided it survives the journey.

A Rare Comet Brightens The Night Skies In October

Every year, several comets are detected, but many of them burn up near the sun or are too far away to be observed without special equipment, according to Larry Denneau, a key researcher with the Atlas telescope that helped discover it.

How to View

Those seeking to see Tsuchinshan-Atlas should go outside about an hour after sunset on a clear night and look to the west.

The comet should be visible from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

SOURCE | AP

Kiara Grace

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Science

NASA Switches Off Instrument On Voyager 2 Spacecraft To Save Power

Published

1 month ago

2024-10-07

Kiara Grace

NEW YORK — To save power, NASA turned off another scientific equipment on its long-running Voyager 2 spacecraft.

NASA Switches Off Instrument On the Spacecraft To Save Power

The space agency announced on Tuesday that 2’s plasma science instrument, meant to study the movement of charged atoms, was turned off in late September to allow the spacecraft to continue exploring for as long as possible, which is estimated to be into the 2030s.

NASA turned off a suite of instruments on Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1, after exploring the gas giant planets in the 1980s. Both are currently in interstellar space or the region between stars. The plasma instrument on Voyager 1 stopped working years ago and was finally shut off in 2007.

The remaining four instruments on 2 will continue to collect data on magnetic fields and particles. Its mission is to investigate the regions of space beyond the sun’s protective sphere.

NASA Switches Off Instrument On Voyager 2 Spacecraft To Save Power

It launched in 1977, is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune. It is now more than 12 billion miles (19.31 billion kilometers) from Earth. 1 is more than 15 billion miles (24.14 billion kilometers) beyond Earth.

SOURCE | AP

Kiara Grace

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