Page 4 - Nuclear

US, South Korea urge i'ntl push to curb North Korean nuclear programme

The national security advisers of the United States, South Korea and Japan called on Saturday for a stronger international push to suppress North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and missiles and its military cooperation with other countries amid concerns about its alleged arms transfers to Russia. The meeting in Seoul came as tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest in years, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accelerating the expansion of his nuclear and missile program and flaunting an escalatory nuclear doctrine that authorizes the preemptive use of nuclear weapons. The United States and its Asian allies have responded by increasing the visibility of their trilateral security cooperation in the region and strengthening their combined military exercises, which Kim condemns as invasion rehearsals. In a joint news conference after the meeting, Cho said the three security advisers reaffirmed North Korea's obligations under multiple U.N. Security Council ...

Stock of this industrial products company has zoomed 293% so far in 2023

Shares of Kaynes Technology India hit a new high of Rs 2,954.20 on rallying 16 per cent on the BSE in Monday's intra-day trade

Who is Anthony Pratt, billionaire Trump shared nuclear secrets with?

ABC News first reported that Trump discussed the potentially sensitive information with Pratt - who's a member of his Mar-a-Lago Club - shortly after leaving office

Russia has not abandoned moratorium on nuclear testing, says Kremlin

President Vladimir Putin, who rules the world's biggest nuclear power, has repeatedly cautioned the West that any attack on Russia could provoke a nuclear response

UK companies to design, manufacture AUKUS nuclear submarines

The SSN-AUKUS program aims to enhance the capabilities of the UK, Australia, and the US to counter regional security challenges, particularly from China in the Asia-Pacific region

IAEA conference: India spells out plans to use N-power to achieve Net Zero

India on Wednesday spelt out plans to generate 22 GW power through nuclear energy to achieve Net Zero emissions for addressing the challenges posed by climate change. At the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Ajit Kumar Mohanty shared India's ambitious plans to step up nuclear power generation during a meeting with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. Mohanty is in Vienna to attend the annual IAEA General Conference. Grossi posted on X, "Greetings to Mohanty on India's ambitious plans to reach 22 GW through nuclear energy for Net Zero." Addressing the conference, Mohanty said Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has been setting records in extended continuous power plant operations and maintaining excellent safety records. Some of its units have operated continuously for more than 365 days (a year) on 42 occasions and more than 700 days on five occasions. One remarkable achievement is that unit-3 at Kakrapar

Water release just start of decommissioning at Japan's Fukushima plant

At a small section of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's central control room in northeastern Japan, the treated water transfer switch is on. A graph on a computer monitor nearby shows a steady decrease of water levels as treated radioactive wastewater is diluted and released into the Pacific Ocean. In the coastal area of the plant, two seawater pumps are in action, gushing torrents of seawater through sky blue pipes into the big header where the treated water, which comes down through a much thinner black pipe from the hilltop tanks, gets diluted by hundreds of times before the release. The sound of the treated and diluted radioactive water flowing into an underground secondary pool was heard from beneath the ground during Sunday's first plant tour for media, including The Associated Press, since the controversial release began. The best way to eliminate the contaminated water is to remove the melted fuel debris, said Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings spokesperson Kenichi .

What you need to know about Fukushima nuclear plant treated water release

Japanese officials plan to start discharging treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, a contentious step more than 12 years after a massive earthquake and tsunami set off a battle against ever-increasing amounts of radioactive water at the plant. The government and plant operator say the release is an unavoidable part of its decommissioning and will be safely carried out, but the plan faces opposition in and outside Japan. Here is a look at the controversy. The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami destroyed the plant's cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt. Highly contaminated cooling water applied to the damaged reactors has leaked continuously to building basements and mixed with groundwater. The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), has taken steps to limit the amount of groundwater and rainwater entering the reactor area, and has reduced the increase in contaminated .

Father of atomic bomb, charged for spying: Who was J Robert Oppenheimer?

Christopher Nolan's much anticipated movie Oppenheimer is set to hit the theatres tomorrow. Here is all you need to know about the American physicist

S Korea endorses safety of Japan's plans to release Fukushima plant water

South Korea's government on Friday formally endorsed the safety of Japanese plans to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into sea as it tried to calm people's fears about food contamination. Seoul's assessment was based on a 22-month review by government-funded scientists and aligned with the International Atomic Energy Agency's views. The agency greenlit the Japanese discharge plans this week, saying the treated wastewater would meet international safety standards and that its environmental and health impact would be negligible. Even before Friday's announcement, South Korean officials have been actively campaigning to dissolve the public's unease about the wastewater release, holding daily briefings to address what they describe as excessive fears and tightening radiation tests on seafood imported from Japan. Conservative lawmakers from President Yoon Suk Yeol's ruling party have even toured seafood markets to drink sea water fetched from fish tanks i

IAEA chief to visit Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant before water release

The UN nuclear chief is to visit Japan's tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant Wednesday after the agency affirmed the safety of a contentious plan to release treated radioactive water into the sea. On his way to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, a highlight of his four-day Japan visit, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi will join government and utility officials to hear the concerns of mayors and fishing association leaders and to assure them of the plan's safety. The IAEA, in its final report released Tuesday, concluded the plan to release the wastewater which would be significantly diluted but still have some radioactivity meets international standards and its environmental and health impact would be negligible. But local fishing organisations have rejected the plan because they worry that their reputation will be damaged even if their catch isn't contaminated. It is also opposed by groups in South Korea, China and some Pacific Island nations due to safety

Israeli PM Netanyahu says he's opposed to any interim US-Iran nuclear deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he opposes any interim agreement reportedly being negotiated between the US and Iran over its nuclear programme. Netanyahu spoke after reports in Israeli media said understandings are being reached between Washington and Tehran that would seek to hold back Iran's nuclear programme somewhat, in exchange for some sanctions relief. The reports could not be independently confirmed and the U.S. has publicly denied any such deal. Netanyahu said Israel had informed the U.S. that the most limited understandings, what are termed mini-agreements', do not in our view serve the goal and we are opposed to them as well. Israeli officials believe some understandings have already been reached limiting enrichment and that some funds have already been unfrozen. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a confidential diplomatic assessment. The Israeli news site Walla last week reported that under the emer

United Nation's nuclear watchdog IAEA to increase presence in Ukraine

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that it would step up its presence in Ukraine to help prevent a nuclear accident during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict

IAEA chief discusses Ukraine nuclear plant protections with Russia

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog met on Thursday in Moscow with officials from Russia's military and state atomic energy company as he pursues a long-running drive to set up a protection zone around a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Russian company Rosatom described the talks on measures needed to safeguard Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and the surrounding region as substantive, useful and frank. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi indicated that more negotiations were needed after another round of necessary discussions". It's key that the zone focuses solely on preventing a nuclear accident, he tweeted. I am continuing my efforts towards this goal with a sense of utmost urgency. The meeting in Moscow came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a defiant wartime visit to the US capital, his first known trip outside his country in the nearly 10 months since Russia invaded. The visit to Washington was a

What is a small modular nuclear reactor?

To meet the rising electricity demand, the government recently said that it is exploring building small modular reactors. But what are they? Let's find out

Nuclear power: All that you need to know about small modular reactors

Small modular reactors are advanced reactors that have a power generation capacity of up to 300 megawatts (MW) per unit

Nuclear agency warns of renewed shelling at Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region

Powerful explosions shook Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region that is the site of Europe's largest nuclear power plant on Sunday morning, the global nuclear watchdog said in a statement, calling for urgent measures to help prevent a nuclear accident in the Russian-occupied facility. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said two explosions one on Saturday evening and another on Sunday morning near the Zaporizhzhia plant abruptly ended a period of relative calm around the nuclear facility that has been the site of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces since the start of the war on February 24. Fears of a nuclear catastrophe have been at the forefront since Russian troops occupied the plant during the early days of the invasion of Ukraine. Continued fighting in the area has raised the spectre of a disaster. In what appeared to be renewed shelling both close to and at the site, IAEA experts at the Zaporizhzhia facility reported heari

Radioactive waste found at Missouri school that was nuke site during WW II

There is significant radioactive contamination at an elementary school in suburban St. Louis where nuclear weapons were produced during World War II, according to a new report by environmental investigation consultants. The report by Boston Chemical Data Corp. confirmed fears about contamination at Jana Elementary School in the Hazelwood School District in Florissant raised by a previous Army Corps of Engineers study. The new report is based on samples taken in August from the school, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Boston Chemical did not say who or what requested and funded the report. I was heartbroken, said Ashley Bernaugh, president of the Jana parent-teacher association who has a son at the school. It sounds so clich, but it takes your breath from you. The school sits in the flood plain of Coldwater Creek, which was contaminated by nuclear waste from weapons production during World War II. The waste was dumped at sites near the St. Louis Lambert International Airpor

Iran may drain offshore crude oil cache if nuclear agreement reached

About 93 million barrels of Iranian crude and condensate are currently stored on vessels in the Persian Gulf, off Singapore and near China

Iran-US nuclear talks in Qatar end without making progress amid tensions

Indirect negotiations between Iran and the US over Tehran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers ended in Qatar after failing to make significant progress amid a growing crisis