Latest news with #nuclearfission
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Researchers make groundbreaking discovery with major implications for next-gen energy source: 'The picture has really changed'
A research team from Chalmers University of Technology recently explored the process of nuclear fission in 100 nuclei and published its findings in Nature. With a thorough study that investigated areas of nuclear fission research never fully explored before, the scientists aimed to understand how and why the fission — or splitting — of certain nuclei resulted in an uneven weight distribution between the two fragments. "Since this study has given us access to fission data of many more nuclei, the picture has really changed, and we have now a better understanding of how nuclear shells influence nuclear fission," explained the team's Andreas Heinz. Fission-based power is still a work in progress, and while the splitting of a heavy atomic nucleus releases massive amounts of energy, the breadth of our nuclear energy research remains relatively limited. According to the university report, the Chalmers researchers sought to contribute one more piece of the puzzle: the fact that the shell structures of various nuclei seemed to link to the uneven output of the fission process. To establish the pattern, they tested a wide series of "exotic nuclei," or nuclei with unusually large proton-neutron differences. "Our dataset will help constrain the fission models used to estimate the fission properties of nuclei with extreme neutron-to-proton ratios for which experimental data are unavailable," the team noted in its study. Finding new ways to manipulate and harness the energy released from the splitting of atoms can provide a clean power source that doesn't rely on the planet-warming combustion of fossil fuels. While other renewable energy sources have made massive strides scientifically and commercially, sources such as wind and solar can't compare to the vast amounts of energy that nuclear power promises. If advancements continue to develop, nuclear power may prove to be a competitive energy source in the long run, driving prices down with its high efficiency and consistency. With more and more ever-improving alternatives to fossil fuels emerging, we can hope to reduce our global carbon pollution and its corresponding impact on our weather, basic needs, and health. Should we be digging miles beneath Earth's surface? No way Definitely Depends what it's for Depends where we do it Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Five-dimensional physics solves decades-old mystery of mercury fission
An international team of researchers, including scientists from Science Tokyo, has developed a five-dimensional Langevin model that accurately reproduces the complex fission fragment distributions and kinetic energies of medium-mass mercury isotopes like 180Hg and 190Hg. Unlike previous models that struggled to explain mercury's asymmetric fission, this approach captures the unusual double-humped mass distribution seen in mercury-180, revealing how nuclear shell effects continue to shape fission dynamics even at higher excitation energies than previously assumed. By demonstrating that these structural effects persist beyond heavy elements like uranium and plutonium, the findings enhance the understanding of nuclear fission processes and could improve predictive models for unexplored isotopes across the nuclear chart. Aiming to uncover the reasons behind mercury's unusual fission behavior, Associate Professor Chikako Ishizuka and her international team at the Institute of Zero-Carbon Energy, Science Tokyo, developed a five-dimensional Langevin model. Published online in Physical Review C on May 20, 2025, their study offers precise predictions of fragment distributions and total kinetic energy, earning recognition as an Editor's Suggestion by the journal. Unlike the well-studied fission of heavy elements such as uranium and plutonium, the way lighter nuclei like mercury split remains poorly understood. Experiments have revealed that mercury-180 undergoes an unusual asymmetric fission, producing fragments of very different sizes. These surprising results challenge current theories and highlight the need to understand how nuclear structure influences fission in elements with atomic numbers below 82. The Langevin model tracks the changing shape of the nucleus in real time, from its initial equilibrium state to the point of scission when it splits into smaller fragments. Developing consistent models for these lighter elements is crucial, as they often behave very differently from well-studied heavy isotopes. In their study, the team focused on two mercury isotopes: 180Hg, created by colliding 36Ar with 144Sm, and 190Hg, formed from 36Ar and 154Sm. They calculated how the fission fragments split and their total kinetic energies. One major improvement in the model was the introduction of a soft wall at the edges of the deformation space, allowing it to more accurately simulate how the nucleus changes shape during fission. The researchers also included the way shell effects evolve with rising excitation energy, a factor often oversimplified in earlier models. Additionally, the simulation closely matched experimental results for both the fragment mass distributions and total kinetic energy. For 180Hg, it successfully recreated the unusual double-peaked mass pattern observed in experiments. The study also revealed that shell effects remain important even at higher excitation energies of 40–50 MeV, contradicting earlier assumptions that they disappear. The researchers also included multichance fission, where the nucleus releases neutrons before splitting. They found this has little impact on fragment masses at low energies but strongly affects the total kinetic energy, making TKE a useful way to study multichance fission. According to Ishizuka, these findings offer valuable new insights into the fission process, deepening our fundamental understanding of nuclear behavior, and they confirm that the 5D Langevin approach is a reliable and effective tool for accurately predicting key fission observables.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Here are the nuclear fission startups backed by Big Tech
Artificial intelligence has sent demand for electricity skyrocketing in the U.S. after years of virtually zero growth. That has sent Big Tech companies scrambling to secure generating capacity for their data centers. For many, that has meant turning to nuclear fission. The power source has been experiencing a resurgence in the last few years following decades of plant closures. (Fission, used in all current nuclear plants, is distinct from fusion, the still-experimental approach to getting power from atoms that, while attracting investors, has yet to produce more electricity than it consumes.) For tech companies, part of the appeal of fission is a stable, predictable source of power that flows 24/7, giving their data centers the potential to run computing loads whenever they require it. But another part of the appeal lies in new reactor designs that promise to overcome the shortcomings of existing nuclear power plants. Where old power plants were built around massive reactors that could generate over 1 gigawatt of electricity, new small modular reactor (SMR) designs see multiple modules deployed alongside each other to meet a range of needs. SMRs rely on mass manufacturing to bring costs down, but to date, no one has built one in the U.S. Still, that hasn't kept Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft away from the table. They've either signed agreements to buy power from nuclear startups or invested in them directly — or both. Here are the nuclear fission startups backed by Big Tech. Kairos Power received a vote of confidence from Google when the search giant promised to buy around 500 megawatts of electricity by 2035, with the first reactor targeted to come online by 2030. The company's small modular reactors rely on molten fluoride salt for cooling and to transport heat to a steam turbine. The salt's high boiling point means that the coolant doesn't need to be kept at high pressure, which should improve operating safety. The reactors contain fuel pebbles coated in carbon and ceramic shells, which should be strong enough to withstand a meltdown. The Alameda-based startup has received a $629 million award from the U.S. government, including $303 million from the Department of Energy. In November 2024, Kairos received approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to commence construction on two reactors in Tennessee. At 35 megawatts, the test units will be smaller than Kairos' eventual commercial reactors, which are expected to generate 75 megawatts each. Oklo is another SMR company targeting the data center world — no surprise given that it was backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who also took the nuclear startup public via a reverse merger with his special purpose acquisition vehicle, AltC, in July 2023. Altman served as chairman of Oklo until April, when he stepped down as OpenAI began negotiating with Oklo for an energy supply agreement. DCVC, Draper Associates, and Peter Thiel's Mithril Capital Management are among the startup's previous investors. Cooled by liquid metal, Oklo's reactor is based on an existing U.S. Department of Energy design that's intended to reduce the amount of nuclear waste that results from regular operations. Still, Oklo's path hasn't been a smooth one. The company's first license application was denied in January 2022. Oklo has said it will resubmit the application sometime in 2025. But that hasn't stopped the company from landing a deal to supply data center operator Switch with 12 gigawatts by 2044. Like Kairos, Saltfoss, formerly known as Seaborg, also wants to build SMRs cooled by molten salt. But unlike Kairos and others, it envisions placing two to eight of them on a ship to create what it calls a Power Barge. The startup has raised nearly $60 million, including a $6 million seed round that included investments from Bill Gates, Peter Thiel, and Unity co-founder David Helgason, according to PitchBook. Satlfoss has an agreement with Samsung Heavy Industries to build the ships and the Satlfoss-designed reactors. Founded by Bill Gates, TerraPower is building a larger reactor, called Natrium, which is cooled by liquid sodium and features molten salt energy storage. The company broke ground on the first power plant in June 2024 in Wyoming. The Natrium design calls for the reactor to generate 345 megawatts of electricity. That's smaller than other new nuclear plants today but larger than most SMR designs. But Natrium has a trick up its sleeve with its molten salt heat storage system. Since nuclear reactors operate best at a steady state, the Natrium reactor can continue breaking atoms when demand is low, and the extra energy is stored as heat in a vat of molten salt, which can be drawn upon later to generate electricity. Investors include Gates' Cascade Investment fund, Khosla Ventures, CRV, and ArcelorMittal. X-Energy landed a hefty $700 million Series C-1 last year led by Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund. At the same time, the SMR startup announced two development agreements that would see the deployment of 300 megawatts of new nuclear generating capacity in the Pacific Northwest and Virginia. The company's high-temperature, gas-cooled reactors buck recent trends in the U.S. and Europe, where the design has been shunned in favor of other approaches. The company's Xe-100 reactor is expected to generate 80 megawatts of electricity. Helium gas flows through the reactor's 200,000 billiard ball-sized fuel 'pebbles,' absorbing heat to spin a steam turbine.
TechCrunch
26-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Here are the nuclear fission startups backed by Big Tech
Artificial intelligence has sent demand for electricity skyrocketing in the U.S. after years of virtually zero growth. That has sent Big Tech companies scrambling to secure generating capacity for their data centers. For many, that has meant turning to nuclear fission. The power source has been experiencing a resurgence in the last few years following decades of plant closures. (Fission, used in all current nuclear plants, is distinct from fusion, the still-experimental approach to getting power from atoms that, while attracting investors, has yet to produce more electricity than it consumes.) For tech companies, part of the appeal of fission is a stable, predictable source of power that flows 24/7, giving their data centers the potential to run computing loads whenever they require it. But another part of the appeal lies in new reactor designs that promise to overcome the shortcomings of existing nuclear power plants. Where old power plants were built around massive reactors that could generate over 1 gigawatt of electricity, new small modular reactor (SMR) designs see multiple modules deployed alongside each other to meet a range of needs. SMRs rely on mass manufacturing to bring costs down, but to date, no one has built one in the U.S. Still, that hasn't kept Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft away from the table. They've either signed agreements to buy power from nuclear startups or invested in them directly — or both. Here are the nuclear fission startups backed by Big Tech. Kairos Power Kairos Power received a vote of confidence from Google when the search giant promised to buy around 500 megawatts of electricity by 2035, with the first reactor targeted to come online by 2030. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW The company's small modular reactors rely on molten fluoride salt for cooling and to transport heat to a steam turbine. The salt's high boiling point means that the coolant doesn't need to be kept at high pressure, which should improve operating safety. The reactors contain fuel pebbles coated in carbon and ceramic shells, which should be strong enough to withstand a meltdown. The Alameda-based startup has received a $629 million award from the U.S. government, including $303 million from the Department of Energy. In November 2024, Kairos received approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to commence construction on two reactors in Tennessee. At 35 megawatts, the test units will be smaller than Kairos' eventual commercial reactors, which are expected to generate 75 megawatts each. Oklo Oklo is another SMR company targeting the data center world — no surprise given that it was backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who also took the nuclear startup public via a reverse merger with his special purpose acquisition vehicle, AltC, in July 2023. Altman served as chairman of Oklo until April, when he stepped down as OpenAI began negotiating with Oklo for an energy supply agreement. DCVC, Draper Associates, and Peter Thiel's Mithril Capital Management are among the startup's previous investors. Cooled by liquid metal, Oklo's reactor is based on an existing U.S. Department of Energy design that's intended to reduce the amount of nuclear waste that results from regular operations. Still, Oklo's path hasn't been a smooth one. The company's first license application was denied in January 2022. Oklo has said it will resubmit the application sometime in 2025. But that hasn't stopped the company from landing a deal to supply data center operator Switch with 12 gigawatts by 2044. Saltfoss Like Kairos, Saltfoss, formerly known as Seaborg, also wants to build SMRs cooled by molten salt. But unlike Kairos and others, it envisions placing two to eight of them on a ship to create what it calls a Power Barge. The startup has raised nearly $60 million, including a $6 million seed round that included investments from Bill Gates, Peter Thiel, and Unity co-founder David Helgason, according to PitchBook. Satlfoss has an agreement with Samsung Heavy Industries to build the ships and the Satlfoss-designed reactors. TerraPower Founded by Bill Gates, TerraPower is building a larger reactor, called Natrium, which is cooled by liquid sodium and features molten salt energy storage. The company broke ground on the first power plant in June 2024 in Wyoming. The Natrium design calls for the reactor to generate 345 megawatts of electricity. That's smaller than other new nuclear plants today but larger than most SMR designs. But Natrium has a trick up its sleeve with its molten salt heat storage system. Since nuclear reactors operate best at a steady state, the Natrium reactor can continue breaking atoms when demand is low, and the extra energy is stored as heat in a vat of molten salt, which can be drawn upon later to generate electricity. Investors include Gates' Cascade Investment fund, Khosla Ventures, CRV, and ArcelorMittal. X-Energy X-Energy landed a hefty $700 million Series C-1 last year led by Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund. At the same time, the SMR startup announced two development agreements that would see the deployment of 300 megawatts of new nuclear generating capacity in the Pacific Northwest and Virginia. The company's high-temperature, gas-cooled reactors buck recent trends in the U.S. and Europe, where the design has been shunned in favor of other approaches. The company's Xe-100 reactor is expected to generate 80 megawatts of electricity. Helium gas flows through the reactor's 200,000 billiard ball-sized fuel 'pebbles,' absorbing heat to spin a steam turbine.
