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China, Russia may build nuclear plant on moon to power lunar station, official says

 China is considering building a nuclear plant on the moon to power the
International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) it is planning with Russia, a
presentation by a senior official showed on Wednesday. China aims to become
a major space power and land astronauts on the moon by 2030, and its
planned Chang’e-8 mission for 2028 would lay the groundwork for
constructing a permanent, manned lunar base.

 Reuters 23rd April 2025, https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/china-led-lunar-base-include-nuclear-power-plant-moons-surface-space-official-2025-04-23/

April 25, 2025 Posted by | China, space travel | Leave a comment

As more countries enter space, the boundary between civilian and military enterprise is blurring. Dangerously.

By Zohaib Altaf | April 9, 2025, https://thebulletin.org/2025/04/as-more-countries-enter-space-the-boundary-between-civilian-and-military-enterprise-is-blurring-dangerously/#post-heading

Outer space is no longer just for global superpowers and large multinational corporations. Developing countries, start-ups, universities, and even high schools can now gain access to space. The democratization of space has led to significant technological advancements, economic growth, and international collaboration.

In 2024, a record 2,849 objects were launched into space. The commercial satellite industry saw global revenue rise to $285 billion in 2023, driven largely by the growth of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation. Private space companies such as SpaceX have played crucial roles in making space more accessible globally.

Developing countries have also made strides. Since 2018, nations like Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal, Rwanda, and Sri Lanka have launched their first satellites. The African space scene has grown, with 43 satellites launched since 2016, totaling 63 in 2025. Ethiopia, despite being one of the world’s poorest countries, has made significant progress in space activities. Similarly, Rwanda, with a substantial portion of its population living in poverty, has embarked on its space journey. These advances show that barriers to space entry are declining.

While the democratization of space is a positive development, it has introduced complex challenges, particularly an ethical quandary that I call the “double dual-use dilemma.” The double dual-use dilemma refers to how private space companies themselves—not just their technologies—can become militarized and integrated into national security while operating commercially

Unlike the traditional military-industrial complex, space companies fluidly shift between civilian and military roles. Their expertise in launch systems, satellites, and surveillance infrastructure allows them to serve both markets, often without clear regulatory oversight. Companies like Walchandnagar Industries in India, SpaceX in the United States, and the private Chinese firms that operate under a national strategy of the Chinese Communist Party called Military-Civil Fusion exemplify this trend, maintaining commercial identities while actively supporting defense programs. This blurring of roles, including the possibility that private space companies may develop their own weapons, raises concerns over unchecked militarization and calls for stronger oversight to preserve space as a neutral domain.

Dual use of space companies. Countries like the United States and China have already shown a willingness to use commercial space entities for military purposes. China encourages private entities to participate in space activities as part of its Military-Civilian Integration Strategy. Similarly, the 2021 United States Space Priorities Framework outlines how new commercial space capabilities and services can be leveraged to meet national security needs. In a 2021 interview, the then-head of the US Space Force discussed the importance of using the space industry for national security.

Researchers and security analysts are increasingly concerned that the dual use of private space companies is not limited to their space technologies, such as the satellites they launch. In some cases, a company may appear to be a civilian space entity while actually maintaining close links with defense sectors.

For instance, take the example of India, which has seen phenomenal growth in its space sector in recent years. The leading companies of the Indian Space Association have worked closely with the Indian Ministry of Defence on various contracts.

Furthermore, the association’s leadership maintains a close connection with the Indian army and defense organizations. For example, the first chairman, Jayant Patil, was also the senior vice president for defense business at Larsen and Toubro, an Indian company involved in the space industry. The company has collaborated with India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation since the mid-1980s.

The usefulness of space companies goes beyond their existing technologies. Military organizations can use expertise gained through civilian cooperation programs to develop other critical technologies. India’s intercontinental ballistic missile program, based on the SLV-3 vehicle, was initially developed under civilian space cooperation with NASA. India’s Agni-V ICBM, which is capable of carrying multiple warheads and has a range exceeding 5,000 kilometers, has also benefited from technological cooperation with NASA.

Indian private space companies such as Walchandnagar Industries are also defense contractors producing aerospace, defense, missile, and nuclear power technologies. These companies collaborate with India’s Defence Ministry and the Defence Research and Development Organisation to produce strategic articles, tactical missiles, and critical platform-based equipment. The expertise gained from private space launches and technological developments can be leveraged to improve missile technology.

There is a serious risk that civilian companies in India and elsewhere, having gained expertise through cooperation with the military, might start developing their own weapons. The table below shows how specific types of space expertise can be used to develop missiles, drones, precision missiles, hypersonic missiles, and other loitering munitions.

Dual use of space technology. India’s rapidly growing space sector and expanding military-commercial partnerships make it a key case study of the double dual-use dilemma. Unlike the United States and China, which have structured policies—the US Space Force and National Space Policy formally integrate private firms into defense, while China’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy mandates commercial space support for China’s army—India’s private space sector is expanding, but its dual-use regulatory framework is still developing. India’s Space Policy 2023, while not explicitly mentioning the military, hints at defense applications by emphasizing space capabilities for “national security.”

This lack of clear regulatory boundaries allows technologies initially developed for civilian use to be repurposed for defense applications, as seen in the case of Synthetic Aperture Radar. Originally acquired through civilian cooperation with NASA, this radar imaging technique is now being adapted for military reconnaissance and targeting. Although not a weapon, the technique’s dual-use nature enables high-resolution surveillance, missile guidance, and intelligence operations.

The commercialization of space by private companies poses significant security challenges. For instance, ostensibly civilian satellites can be repurposed for military uses such as surveillance and espionage. Commercial satellites with high-resolution imaging capabilities, like those from companies such as Planet Labs, can be used for intelligence gathering, providing detailed information on adversaries’ activities and installations. The dual-use dilemma affects governments as well as private companies, but poses greater risks with private entities due to weaker oversight and profit-driven priorities. Governments operate under strict security frameworks and treaties like the Outer Space Treaty, ensuring accountability in the use of dual-use technologies. In contrast, private companies may prioritize commercial interests, potentially selling technologies to less accountable actors, increasing proliferation risks. While satellite launches are regulated, post-launch activities—like selling high-resolution imagery or repurposing technology—are harder to monitor.

Furthermore, companies like the American company Capella Space have developed synthetic aperture radar satellites for civilian purposes such as disaster management and environmental monitoring. However, the high-resolution images provided by these satellites can also be used for military applications, including counterforce strikes and espionage. These satellites can monitor adversaries and plan strategic military operations.

Moreover, American companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, which focus on developing rockets and spacecraft for civilian space missions, also have the potential to contribute to military logistics and defense operations. For instance, SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, designed for global internet coverage, could be used in military scenarios to support drone operations by enabling real-time communication and coordination, as seen during the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Repurposing commercial technologies for military use introduces potential risks. Civilian systems could become high-value targets, vulnerable to cyberattacks and physical strikes, potentially disrupting operations and escalating conflicts into  space. The reliance on privately owned infrastructure also poses challenges, as it reduces government oversight and increases the risk of misuse or proliferation. For example, reusable rockets developed for commercial launches could be adapted for missile programs, enabling military advancements to be concealed within civilian initiatives. These dual-use capabilities have the potential to blur the boundaries between civilian and military applications, increasing the risks of conflict escalation and complicating efforts to maintain global stability in a democratized space domain.

Need for robust regulatory framework. The challenges posed by the double dual-use dilemma necessitate robust regulatory frameworks and international cooperation to ensure that the commercialization of space does not compromise global security. For example, commercial satellite launch services could be used to deploy space-based weapons or reconnaissance systems under the guise of civilian activities, making it harder to enforce arms control agreements. Effective space governance must address the potential for commercial space entities to be co-opted for military purposes. One practical step is the establishment of international agreements that mandate transparency in satellite launches and operations.

The Outer Space Treaty, which forms the basis of international space law, should be expanded to include specific provisions for the dual use of space technologies. For example, countries could be required to declare the intended uses of their satellites, with periodic inspections to ensure compliance. International space governance must ensure that expertise gained through civil cooperation does not translate into new weapons programs.

Furthermore, partnerships between governments and private corporations should be regulated to prevent the misuse of commercial space capabilities. The European Union’s Space Surveillance and Tracking network is an example of regional cooperation to monitor space activities and ensure that space assets are used for their declared purposes. This type of cooperation should be extended globally to include major space-faring nations and emerging space players.

In the United States, the Space Force has already begun leveraging commercial space capabilities for national security purposes. For instance, the National Reconnaissance Office has contracted with commercial satellite companies to provide imagery for intelligence purposes. Such partnerships highlight the need for clear guidelines to differentiate civilian and military applications and to ensure that commercial space activities do not escalate geopolitical tensions.

The international community must develop comprehensive strategies to manage the complexities introduced by the double dual-use dilemma. It is no longer a distant challenge—it is actively reshaping the balance of power in space. As private space firms blur the lines between commercial innovation and military assets, the risk of an unregulated arms race beyond Earth’s atmosphere grows.

Without clear governance, space could follow the path of cyberspace—a once-neutral domain now deeply entrenched in geopolitical rivalry. The question is no longer if commercial space activities will fuel strategic competition, but how soon nations will act to prevent the militarization of the final frontier.

April 24, 2025 Posted by | space travel | Leave a comment

INSIDER THREAT SECURITY CONSIDERATIONSFOR ADVANCED AND SMALL MODULAR REACTORS.

 The wide range of nuclear power plant technologies currently in design
globally have an assortment of unique characteristics that create novel
security considerations compared to large conventional nuclear power
plants.

Some of these characteristics create “insider threat”
considerations for nuclear security, where insiders are defined as
individuals with legitimate access to nuclear facilities and materials who
use this access to carry out sabotage or theft of nuclear material.

These include a lack of mature security culture in developer organisations,
serial plant manufacturing in a production line environment, plant siting
in remote and isolated areas, minimised staff numbers, teleoperation of
plants by offsite staff, the increased reliance on digital instrumentation
and control systems, and the potential for greater involvement of foreign
experts and third-party suppliers, especially on short-term bases for, e.g,
refuelling and maintenance.

The paper takes a technology agnostic approach
to examine what these factors may mean for insider threat risks and
suggests that plant designers should be identifying and minimising the
opportunities of insiders to act throughout the engineering design process.
Doing so is anticipated to strengthen effective insider threat mitigation
in deployed small and advanced reactors.

 Kings College 21st April 2025 – https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/311074601/Paper_381_Insider_Threat_for_SMR.pdf

April 23, 2025 Posted by | safety, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors | Leave a comment

Small nuclear reactors are no fix for California’s energy needs

I know all too well that the hype is built on quicksand …….. many of those “building support for small modular reactors” are putting forward “rhetorical visions imbued with elements of fantasy.”

SMRs are just one of several wildly overhyped false promises on which the world is poised to spend hundreds of billions of dollars by 2040

Joseph Romm, April 18, 2025 , https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-04-18/small-modular-reactors-cost-california

It might seem like everyone from venture capitalists to the news media to the U.S. secretary of Energy has been hyping small modular reactors as the key to unlocking a nuclear renaissance and solving both climate change and modern data centers’ ravenous need for power.

On Monday, the Natural Resources Committee of the California Assembly will consider a bill to repeal a longstanding moratorium on nuclear plants in the state, which was meant to be in place until there is a sustainable plan for what to do with radioactive waste. Defeated multiple times in the past, this bill would carve out an exception for small modular reactors, or SMRs, the current pipe dream of nuclear advocates.

SMRs are typically under 300 megawatts, compared with the combined 2.2 gigawatts from Diablo Canyon’s two operating reactors near San Luis Obispo. These smaller nukes have received so much attention in recent years mainly because modern reactors are so costly that the U.S. and Europe have all but stopped building any.

The sad truth is that small reactors make even less sense than big ones. And Trump’s tariffs only make the math more discouraging.

I’ve been analyzing nuclear power since 1993, when I started a five-year stint at the Department of Energy as a special assistant to the deputy secretary. I helped him oversee both the nuclear energy program and the energy efficiency and renewable energy program, which I ran in 1997.

So I know all too well that the hype is built on quicksand — specifically, a seven-decade history of failure. As a 2015 analysis put it, “Economics killed small nuclear power plants in the past — and probably will keep doing so.” A 2014 journal article concluded many of those “building support for small modular reactors” are putting forward “rhetorical visions imbued with elements of fantasy.”

But isn’t there a nuclear renaissance going on? Nope. Georgia’s Vogtle plant is the only new nuclear plant the U.S. has successfully built and started in recent decades. The total cost was $35 billion, or about $16 million per megawatt of generating capacity — far more than methane (natural gas) or solar and wind with battery storage.

As such, Vogtle is “the most expensive power plant ever built on Earth,” with an “astoundingly high” estimated electricity cost, noted Power magazine. Georgia ratepayers each paid $1,000 to support this plant before they even got any power, and now their bills are rising more than $200 annually.

The high cost of construction and the resulting high energy bills explain why nuclear’s share of global power peaked at 17% in the mid-1990s but was down to 9.1% in 2024.

For decades, economies of scale drove reactors to grow beyond 1,000 megawatts. The idea that abandoning this logic would lead to a lower cost per megawatt is magical thinking, defying technical plausibility, historical reality and common sense.

Even a September report from the federal Department of Energy — which funds SMR development — modeled a cost per megawatt more than 50% higher than for large reactors. That’s why there are only three operating SMRs: one in China, with a 300% cost overrun, and two in Russia, with a 400% overrun. In March, a Financial Times analysis labeled such small reactors “the most expensive energy source.”

Indeed, the first SMR the U.S. tried to build — by NuScale — was canceled in 2023 after its cost soared past $20 million per megawatt, higher than Vogtle. In 2024, Bill Gates told CBS the full cost of his 375-megawatt Natrium reactor would be “close to $10 billion,” making its cost nearly $30 million per megawatt — almost twice Vogtle’s.

All of this has played out against a backdrop of historically cheap natural gas and a rapid expansion of renewable energy sources for electricity generation. All that competition against nuclear power matters: A 2023 Columbia University report concluded that “if the costs of new nuclear end up being much higher” than $6.2 million per megawatt, “new nuclear appears unlikely to play much of a role, if any, in the U.S. power sector.” R.I.P.

SMRs are just one of several wildly overhyped false promises on which the world is poised to spend hundreds of billions of dollars by 2040, including hydrogen energy and direct air carbon capture.

But nuclear power is the original overhyped energy technology. When he was chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Lewis Strauss — the Robert Downey Jr. character in “Oppenheimer” — predicted in 1954 that our children would enjoy nuclear power “too cheap to meter.”

Yet by the time I joined the Department of Energy in 1993, nuclear power costs had grown steadily for decades. Since then, prices for new reactors have kept rising, and they are now the most expensive power source. But solar, wind and battery prices have kept dropping, becoming the cheapest. Indeed, those three technologies constitute a remarkable 93% of planned U.S. utility-scale electric-generating capacity additions in 2025. The rest is natural gas.

China is the only country building many new nuclear plants over the next five years — about 35 gigawatts. Less than 1% of this projected capacity would be from small reactors — while more than 95% will be from reactors over 1,100 megawatts. Now compare all that to the 350 gigawatts of solar and wind China built — just in 2024.

For the U.S., President Trump’s erratic tariffs make small modular reactors an even riskier bet. If the U.S. economy shrinks, so does demand for new electric power plants. And the twin threats of inflation and higher interest rates increase the risk of even worse construction cost overruns.

Also, China, Canada and other trading partners provide critical supply chain elements needed to mass-produce SMRs — and mass production is key to the sales pitch claiming this technology could become affordable. That logic would apply only if virtually all of the current SMR ventures fail and only one or two end up pursuing mass production.

So, can we please stop talking about small modular reactors as a solution to our power needs and get back to building the real solutions — wind, solar and batteries? They’re cheaper and cleaner — and actually modular.

Joseph Romm is a former acting assistant secretary of Energy and the author of “The Hype About Hydrogen: False Promises and Real Solutions in the Race to Save the Climate.”

April 22, 2025 Posted by | Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, USA | Leave a comment

I’ve got a rocket for these space cadets and their pantomime of feminism

They do not operate the spaceship. They dress sexy for the spaceship flight.

pseudo-feminism.. which wrinkles its nose if you look grey, ugly or old

The Age, Jacqueline Maley, April 20, 2025

“……………………………………………………………….. We didn’t want to look but we found we couldn’t look away when, on Wednesday, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin – a space technology company – launched an all-female, B- and C-list celebrity crew of six into space, wearing skintight designer spacesuits and heavy make-up. It was the first fully-lady-mission since Russian astronaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo space flight in 1963.

The team consisted of the billionaire Bezos’ fiancée, the television journalist and children’s book author Lauren Sanchez; pop star Katy Perry; television host and Oprah-bestie Gayle King; former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe; activist, sexual assault survivor and scientist Amanda Nguyen; and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

“I was like, ‘What am I going to wear?’” Perry told Elle of her initial reaction to the invitation. “But seriously, I have wanted to go to space for almost 20 years.”

In terms of publicity for space tourism for the rich and (dubiously) famous, it was a bonanza. But the heavily girlified nature of the rhetoric around the mission (if we can call it that – the trip lasted for 11 minutes), and its explicit branding as an exercise in empowering girls to aspire to careers in space exploration, well, that made it a very dark day for feminism.

The whole exercise was emblazoned with such drippy femininity and lame girlboss-ery that all womankind was implicated. It was a test of the implicit feminist pact to Support Women. I suspect I failed it.

It’s not something that Virginia Woolf or Betty Friedan ever prepared us for – an all-woman space crew which served quotes like: “I think it’s so important for people to see … this dichotomy of engineer and scientist, and then beauty and fashion. We contain multitudes. Women are multitudes. I’m going to be wearing lipstick.”

Despite not having any direct link to the Trump administration, it all felt so very Trumpy – a symbol of the dark end-days of American democracy; the great American project of aspiration and exploration reduced to a commercialised stunt, obscenely wasteful and vulgar beyond words. …………..

… the moral emptiness of the mission was underscored by leaked documents showing the Trump administration plans to gut key science programs funded by the federal government.

Under the leaked plans, NASA’s science budget for the fiscal year 2026 would be nearly halved. As Nature reported: “At risk is research that would develop next-generation climate models, track the planet’s changing oceans and explore the Solar System.”

Separately, NASA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion chief Neela Rajendra was sacked, in compliance with Trump’s executive order to “terminate” all people employed under “DEI” programs.

Business Standard reported Rajendra “played a key role in national initiatives like the Space Workforce 2030 pledge, aimed at increasing representation of women and minorities in STEM fields”.

Sure, but did she put the glam into space? The girlstronauts represent a pantomime of feminism found everywhere across Trump-land.

It’s in the robotically doll-like women who sit behind the men of the administration, nodding and smiling as they announce powerful new assaults on the rule of law.

It’s in the milquetoast “Be Best” initiatives of first lady Melania Trump.

It’s in the administration’s persecution of trans people in the name of “women’s rights”, and in its rollback of abortion rights…………

But at least the women are on stage, right? Women can be treated as a special category as long as they uplift and adorn – that seems to be the message the girl crew have absorbed and then promoted. But there is little point in them being on view if they are not looking “glam”.

Such women equate a certain kind of physical presentation with self-respect, and they defend it as their “right”. They fail to realise, or are too rich to care, that the companies which sell them their version of beauty are exploiting them. They do not operate the spaceship. They dress sexy for the spaceship flight.

It is a nihilistic form of pseudo-feminism that insists on women’s right to “take up space” (as the astronaut women chanted when they reached the zero-gravity part of their adventure), but which wrinkles its nose if you look grey, ugly or old while doing so.

It is a way of reducing women to the status of a pretty distraction, while insisting, straight-faced, that at least that means we are being “seen”. https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/i-ve-got-a-rocket-for-these-space-cadets-and-their-pantomime-of-feminism-20250417-p5lslv.html

April 21, 2025 Posted by | space travel, Women | Leave a comment

Aerial photos show state of Sizewell C preparatory works

 Aerial photos of the proposed Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk
have revealed the state of preparatory works ahead of its final investment
decision (FID). Despite the nuclear power plant having received development
consent in 2022, its FID is still yet to be achieved and the mood of
potential investors has been the subject of intense speculation.

Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea said his company’s stake in Sizewell C
could be “between 1% or 2% and 50%”, meanwhile, the French spending
regulator Cour des comptes said EDF should scale back its involvement in
the project.

Nevertheless, preparatory work is underway such on road
upgrades and ground freezing, with over £2.5bn worth of contracts having
been awarded already. Four photos taken from an aerial platform, which
could be a drone, aircraft or hot air balloon, were published by Stop
Sizewell C on 8 April. The images were republished by Nuclear Free Local
Authorities (NFLA), which said the photos had been taken by an “anonymous
source” who “kindly made them free of license for open use”.

 New Civil Engineer 16th April 2025, https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/aerial-photos-show-state-of-sizewell-c-preparatory-works-16-04-2025/

April 20, 2025 Posted by | technology, UK | Leave a comment

Bill Gates enters race to build mini-nuclear reactors in Britain

Competition from billionaire’s company TerraPower threatens blow for Rolls-Royce

A company founded by Bill Gates has submitted a bid to build
mini-nuclear reactors in Britain, dealing a potential blow to
Rolls-Royce’s hopes of dominating the domestic market.

Seattle-based TerraPower has written to the Government outlining its intention to submit
its reactor design for regulatory approval. The move kickstarts efforts by
the US company to enter an increasingly competitive market to build small
modular reactors (SMR), which are expected to play a key role in the UK’s
shift to cleaner energy.

The Microsoft billionaire’s company has
developed a reactor, called Natrium, that uses a molten sodium heat storage
system that allows it to rapidly ramp up its power output at peak times.
Natrium is the Latin word for sodium which has the chemical symbol Na.
Chris Levesque, TerraPower chief executive, said: “I am incredibly
excited to begin the process of licensing the Natrium technology in the UK.
Rolls-Royce had hoped to corner UK market with its small modular reactors.
While TerraPower is not involved in the competition for the UK’s SMR
contract, the potential entrant of a new deep-pocketed rival into the
market will pose a fresh challenge to Rolls-Royce’s plans.

 Telegraph 16th April 2025, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/04/16/bill-gates-bids-to-build-mini-nuclear-reactors-in-britain/

April 20, 2025 Posted by | Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, UK | Leave a comment

UPENN REPORT: TARIFFS LIKELY NAIL IN COFFIN OF U.S. SMALL NUCLEAR REACTORS.

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are a “false promise” for powering
proposed artificial intelligence (AI) data centers nationwide, according to
a new report published today by the University of Pennsylvania’s (UPenn), Dr. Joseph Romm, a former Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy.

The research report, “Smaller nuclear reactors (SMRs) are a costly dead end,
especially for AI, and Trump’s tariffs and other policies make them even
more of a losing bet,” is an expanded version of a chapter in Dr.
Romm’s new book, “The Hype About Hydrogen: False Promises and Real
Solutions in the Race to Save the Climate” (Island Press, April 22).

The report examines recent economic developments, including the over-budget $35
billion completion of Georgia’s Vogtle plant, current and canceled SMR
proposals, and how Trump’s tariffs (and other policies) threaten the
nuclear industry. The study concludes that these factors will ultimately
doom the likelihood of new American commercial nuclear reactors playing
much of a role in meeting U.S. electricity demand needs for the foreseeable
future.

“It would be unprecedented in the history of energy for smaller
nuclear reactors to overcome not only the high cost per megawatt of large
nuclear plants but also the diseconomies of shrinking them down—and then
to somehow keep dropping in price so sharply that SMRs become such clear
marketplace winners as to make a major contribution to cutting greenhouse
gas emissions by 2050. This is especially true since SMRs show every sign
of the kind of cost escalation that has plagued larger nuclear reactors for
decades,” according to the report.

 Hastings Group 15th April 2025,
https://hastingsgroupmedia.com/SMF/041525-Romm-SMR-Dead-End-Report-news-release.pdf

April 18, 2025 Posted by | Small Modular Nuclear Reactors | Leave a comment

U.S. advances microreactor program for military sites

Nuclear Newswire, Apr 15, 2025, 

The Defense Innovation Unit announced April 10 next steps in the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations (ANPI) program, launched in 2024 to deploy microreactor nuclear systems for increased power reliability at select military locations.

The ANPI program is a collaboration between DIU, which is under the Department of Defense, and the Departments of the Army and the Air Force, with the goals of working to design, license, build, and operate one or more microreactor nuclear power plants for the armed forces………………..

The DIU released the names of eight companies eligible to receive Other Transaction awards to provide commercially available dual use microreactor technology at various DOD installations:

  • Antares Nuclear
  • BWXT Advanced Technologies
  • General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems
  • Kairos Power
  • Oklo
  • Radiant Industries Incorporated
  • Westinghouse Government Services
  • X-energy

“Projecting power abroad demands ensuring power at home and this program aims to deliver that, ensuring that our defense leaders can remain focused on lethality,” ………………………………………………………………… https://www.ans.org/news/2025-04-14/article-6931/us-advances-microreactor-program-for-military-sites/

April 18, 2025 Posted by | Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, USA | Leave a comment

Gender Stunts in Space: Blue Origin’s Female Celebrity Envoys

April 15, 2025 Dr Binoy Kampmark, https://theaimn.net/gender-stunts-in-space-blue-origins-female-celebrity-envoys/

Indulgent, vain and profligate, the all-female venture into space on the self-piloted New Shepard (NS-31) operated by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin was space capitalism and celebrity shallowness on full show, masquerading as profound, moving and useful.  

The crew consisted of bioastronautics research scientist and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King, pop entertainer Katy Perry, film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA scientist and entrepreneur Aisha Bowe and Lauren Sánchez, fiancée of Jeff Bezos. The journey took 11 minutes and reached the Kármán line at approximately 96 kilometres above the earth.

Blue Origin had advertised the enterprise as an incentive to draw girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). It also shamelessly played on the background of some of the crew, with Nguyen promoted as “the first Vietnamese and south-east Asian female astronaut” whose presence would “highlight science as a tool for peace” and also project a potent “symbol of reconciliation between the US and Vietnam.”

Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President of New Shepard, thought it a “privilege to witness this crew of trailblazers depart the capsule today.” Each woman was “a storyteller” who would “use their voices – individually and together – to channel their life-changing experience today into creating lasting impact that will inspire people across our planet for generations.”

What was more accurately on show were celebrity space marketers on an expensive jaunt, showing us all that women can play the space capitalism game as well, albeit as the suborbital version of a catwalk or fashion show. Far from pushing some variant of feminism in the frontier of space, with scientific rewards for girls the world over, we got the eclipsing, if not a wholesale junking, of female astronauts and their monumental expertise.

It hardly compared, at any stretch or by any quantum of measure, with the achievement of Russian cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, who piloted a Vostok 6 into earth’s orbit lasting 70 hours over six decades prior. To have Sánchez claiming to be “so proud of this crew”, tears cued for effect, gave the impression that they had shown technical expertise and skill when neither was required. It was far better to have deep pockets fronting the appropriate deposit, along with the necessary safe return, over which they had virtually no control over.

Dr Kai-Uwe Schrogl, special advisor for political affairs at the European Space Agency, offered a necessarily cold corrective. “A celebrity isn’t an envoy of humankind – they go into space for their own reasons,” he told BBC News. “These flights are significant and exciting, but I think maybe they can also be a source of frustration for space scientists.” How silly of those scientists, who regard space flight as an extension of “science, knowledge and the interests of humanity.”

The Guardian was also awake to the motivations of the Bezos project. “The pseudo progressiveness of this celebrity space mission, coupled with Bezos’s conduct in his other businesses, should mean we are under no illusion what purpose these flights serve.” With Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the space tourism market, marked by its bratty oligarchs, is becoming competitive. In an effort to corner the market, attractive gimmicks are in high demand.  

The cringingly superficial nature of the exercise was evident in various comments on the fashion aspect of the suits worn by the crew. Here was branding, and the sort that could be taken to space. As Sánchez stated: “Usually, you know, these suits are made for a man. Then they get tailored to fit a woman. I think the suits are elegant, but they also bring a little spice to space.” Blue Origin had capitalised on NASA’s own failings in 2019, which saw the abandoning of an all-female spacewalk for lacking appropriately fitting spacesuits.

On their return, the female cast performed their contractual undertakings to bore the press with deadly clichés and meaningless observations, reducing space travel to an exercise for the trivial. “Earth looked so quiet,” remarked Sánchez. “It was quiet, but really alive.” King, after getting on her knees to kiss the earth, merely wanted “to have a moment with the ground, just appreciate the ground for just a second.” (Surely she has had longer than that.) Perry, on her return after singing What a Wonderful World during the trip, overflowed with inanities. She felt “super connected to life”, as well as being “so connected to love.”

On the ground were other celebrities, delighted to offer their cliché-clotted thoughts. “I didn’t realise how emotional it would be, it’s hard to explain,” reflected Khloé Kardashian. “I have all this adrenaline and I’m just standing here.” From a family of celebrities that merely exist as celebrities and nothing else, she had some advice: “Dream big, wish for the stars – and one day, you could maybe be amongst them.”

Amanda Hess, reflecting on the mission in The New York Times, tried to put her finger on what it all meant. “The message is that a little girl can grow up to be whatever she wishes: a rocket scientist or a pop star, a television journalist or a billionaire’s fiancée who is empowered to pursue her various ambitions and whims in the face of tremendous costs.” Just not an astronaut.

April 16, 2025 Posted by | space travel, USA, Women | Leave a comment

California Nuclear Plant Integrates AI for Efficiency

Oil Price By Haley Zaremba – Apr 13, 2025,

  • The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California is utilizing AI technology to improve the efficiency of its document retrieval processes, aiming to reduce the time and resources spent on managing technical documentation.
  • While the initial use of AI is limited to document retrieval, there are concerns among lawmakers and watchdogs regarding the potential for broader automation and the safety implications within a nuclear setting.
  • The convergence of nuclear energy and AI is being driven by the increasing energy demands of data centers, with tech leaders and the federal government exploring the symbiotic relationship between these technologies for future energy solutions.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………lawmakers are very concerned about what the introduction of artificial intelligence into nuclear power production could mean for the future, and are pushing for more concrete guardrails. However, under the Trump administration, such parameters may not be forthcoming. Trump has already walked back a Biden-era ??executive order outlining goals for AI regulation, which the current administration sees as anti-innovation. 

While there is little risk in the use of AI for document retrieval, there is concern about what comes next.

“The idea that you could just use generative AI for one specific kind of task at the nuclear power plant and then call it a day, I don’t really trust that it would stop there,” Tamara Kneese, the director of tech policy nonprofit Data & Society’s Climate, Technology, and Justice program, was recently quoted by Cal Matters. “And trusting PG&E to safely use generative AI in a nuclear setting is something that is deserving of more scrutiny.”

Nuclear energy and AI have become increasingly entangled as the runaway energy demand growth of data centers has threatened domestic energy security as well as Silicon Valley’s decarbonization goals. Tech bigwigs like Bill Gates and Sam Altman have increasingly touted nuclear energy as a carbon-free solution to meeting AI’s fast-growing energy demand, and have even envisioned a symbiotic relationship between nuclear and AI, wherein machine learning can help plan and design more efficient and cost-effective next-gen power plants. 

The federal government has also pushed this angle. The U.S. Department of Energy recently identified 16 federal sites that ??are “uniquely positioned for rapid data center construction, including in-place energy infrastructure with the ability to fast-track permitting for new energy generation such as nuclear.” https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/California-Nuclear-Plant-Integrates-AI-for-Efficiency.html

April 15, 2025 Posted by | technology, USA | Leave a comment

UK Government convenes AI Energy Council, but could be ignoring hidden climate impacts in supply chains


 Edie 10th April 2025, Sidhi Mittal

The UK Government has officially launched its AI Energy Council, with its first meeting outlining five key priorities for aligning the country’s clean energy ambitions with the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI).

However, while the Council focuses on integrating AI intro the UK’s energy system, Ministers are being warned that they are overlooking the strain which AI supply chains are putting on energy systems overseas.

The Council is led by Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. Representatives from companies including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, ARM, EDF and ScottishPower sit on the Council, alongside energy regulator Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator (NESO).

The Council this week met for the first time, and agreed on focus points for the year ahead. These include preparing the UK’s energy grid for the electricity demands of AI and computer infrastructure, accelerating renewable energy adoption, and ensuring AI’s role in the energy sector contributes to the transition to net-zero.

Emphasis was also placed on using AI to improve grid flexibility and ensuring its safe, secure deployment in the energy system.

This move comes amid growing pressure for the UK’s AI ecosystem to deliver more public benefit. A recent report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that only 15% of AI firms in the UK are developing solutions aimed at social challenges such as public health or environmental sustainability, despite 20% having received public funding.

IPPR’s head of AI Carsten Jung said: “Too many companies are focussed on generic process improvements rather than coming up with new, better products. And too few innovations are aimed at solving big societal problems, such as public health and climate change.

“This quantity over quality, profit over purpose, speed over substance, approach is a hugely missed opportunity.”

But as the UK attempts to shape a greener AI-powered future through initiatives like the AI Energy Council, the global supply chain it relies on presents an emissions challenge far beyond its borders.

AI chip boom in East Asia drives fossil fuel surge

New research from Greenpeace East Asia has found that electricity demand for manufacturing AI chips has risen more than 350% between 2023 and 2024. East Asia—home to the bulk of global AI chip production—is seeing this growth largely powered by fossil fuels………………………..

Greenpeace East Asia’s supply chain project lead Katrin Wu said: “While fabless hardware companies like Nvidia and AMD are reaping billions from the AI boom, they are neglecting the climate impact of their supply chains in East Asia.

“Across East Asia, there are many opportunities for companies to invest directly in wind and solar energy, yet chipmakers have failed to do so on a meaningful scale.

“Hardware companies can overcome renewable energy bottlenecks by investing directly in wind and solar capacity, signing power purchase agreements, and leveraging their influence to advocate for a higher ratio of renewable energy in the grid.”……………………………………………………………. https://www.edie.net/uk-government-convenes-ai-energy-council-but-could-be-ignoring-hidden-climate-impacts-in-supply-chains/

April 12, 2025 Posted by | technology, UK | Leave a comment

The Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor will not be able to deliver its full power without major works.

According to our information, EDF has still not been able to identify the cause of the malfunction of the turbine in the Normandy reactor.

 La Tribune Juliette Raynal, 04/07/25

After a doomed construction site, the Normandy reactor of the Flamanville EPR started up on December 21, twelve years behind schedule. Its entry into service does not signal the end of the problems, far from it. According to our information, the difficulties encountered with the turbo-alternator unit, the centerpiece of a nuclear power plant, will prevent the first French EPR from delivering its full electrical power without major intervention requiring the assembly of scaffolding inside a room that is difficult to access.

Contacted by La Tribune , EDF did not wish to comment on this information and indicated that it was maintaining its provisional schedule with the transition to 100% of its nominal power in the summer of 2025. “While technically the reactor could well reach its full thermal power in the coming months, the electrical power will be reduced by 10 to 20% due to the partial vacuum,”  qualifies a well-informed source.

As we reported on March 13, EDF teams had to deal  with abnormal heating in the turbo-generator unit. Located in the heart of the engine room, the 70-meter-long Arabelle turbine, manufactured by General Electric,  but now owned by Arabelle Solutions, a subsidiary of EDF, 
transforms the thermal energy contained in the steam into mechanical energy to drive the alternator that produces electricity.
 The Arabelle turbine, the centerpiece of the power plant

In a technical document published  following a general meeting, organized on February 25th within the framework of the Local Information Commission (CLI), the electrician revealed a malfunction:  “The temperature increases beyond the authorized limit on stages 7 and 8 of the turbo alternator group when trying to reach the expected condenser vacuum . “

…………………………………….. the 57th reactor in the French fleet is still shut down due to a maintenance operation on equipment located in the nuclear part of the plant.

After several postponements, its start-up is expected on April 11. “While these adjustments allow the reactor to be restarted without exceeding the authorized heating levels, they will not allow it to operate at full power,” a well-informed source cautions. “The reactor will only be able to continue its tests at a partial vacuum,” the same source specifies.

……………………………..With  the vacuum reduced, the turbine’s efficiency will be mechanically reduced and could therefore be between 10 and 20% below its nominal operating temperature.

The cause of the malfunction has not yet been identified.

“The work that has been carried out on the bearings is corrective work. It helps to reduce the fault that is causing excessive heating, but the teams involved do not expect this to completely resolve the problem. In short, it helps to treat the symptoms, but not the cause, which remains unidentified ,” reports  this source.

According to our information, to attempt a diagnosis, EDF teams will have to install scaffolding inside the condenser itself. A room that is difficult to access since it is located just below the turbine.  “It is an intrusive operation that requires a complete shutdown of the reactor for at least several weeks ,” according to this well-informed source.

“A nightmare to cope with”

Unlike a conventional shutdown for refueling, which lasts on average 30 to 40 days, this first break should last  “at least 250 days ,” said Régis Clément, deputy director of EDF’s nuclear fleet division, during a press briefing on December 20. In other words, more than eight months.  EDF also intends to take advantage of this interruption to replace the defective tank cover, required by the nuclear regulator.

While waiting for this operation, the various components of the turbine, due to its abnormal operation, could well be damaged. And for good reason, even if by lowering the vacuum level the defect becomes acceptable, it does not disappear. As a result, the bearings wear unevenly and mistreat the turbine. “This machine risks being a nightmare to operate ,” fears a person close to the case.

April 12, 2025 Posted by | France, technology | 1 Comment

Radiation Monitoring – Scottish university in ‘world-first’ for nuclear technology

A “cutting-edge” radiation detector module for nuclear experiments has
been developed by staff and students at the University of the West of
Scotland (UWS) that will be deployed at the world’s top laboratories. The
detection module, which can be used for nuclear experiments, will have
“far-reaching impact” on the areas where radiation detection is required.

 Herald 7th April 2025,
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25068881.scottish-university-world-first-nuclear-technology/

April 11, 2025 Posted by | technology, UK | Leave a comment

ESA’s new documentary paints worrying picture of Earth’s orbital junk problem

By Monisha Ravisetti ,  April 3, 2025, https://www.space.com/the-universe/earth/esas-new-documentary-paints-worrying-picture-of-earths-orbital-junk-problem

There are a lot of satellites, and a lot of trash, around our planet — and the quantities are only going to get higher.

A new documentary short released by the European Space Agency presents an ominous statement within its first 20 seconds: “Around 70% of the 20,000 satellites ever launched remain in space today, orbiting alongside hundreds of millions of fragments left behind by collisions, explosions and intentional destruction.”

The approximately eight-minute-long film “Space Debris: Is it a Crisis?” attempts to answer its conjecture with supportive statistics and orbital projections.

For instance, it discusses how the rise of satellite constellations (think, SpaceX Starlink internet satellites) is bound to further increase the amount of stuff that orbits our planet — yet simultaneously, the amount of space junk will likely go up, too, due to shards of rockets tearing off during launch and out-of-commission spacecraft that can’t be returned to the ground in a timely manner.

Considering how quickly things in Earth orbit tend to zip around, a fragment of a spacecraft crashing into a satellite could greatly hinder that satellite; two satellites colliding could be catastrophic for both. Sometimes, debris even falls uncontrolled back to our planet.

The film also mentions that the kind of Earth orbit matters when discussing whether we’re in a space junk “crisis” — though unfortunately, orbits at risk appear to be those with satellites that help with communication and navigation, as well as our fight against another primarily human-driven crisis: global warming.

Still, the film emphasizes that solutions ought to be thought of carefully: “True sustainability is complex, and rushed solutions risk creating the problem of burden-shifting.”

You can watch the film on ESA’s website, linked just here.

April 8, 2025 Posted by | space travel | Leave a comment

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