Spent nuclear fuel contains long-lived radioactive materials which should be isolated from the biosphere for more than a hundred thousand years. The transmutation technology is to change long-lived nuclides to short-lived or stable ones so that the burden of nuclear waste management can be largely reduced. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is conducting research and development on Partitioning and Transmutation technology, aiming at reduction of burden for high-level radioactive wastes. To transmute minor actinides such as neptunium and americium effectively, irradiation of them by fast neutrons is considered as a promising way, because fission reactions can directly transmute them. For this purpose, JAEA is developing an Accelerator-Driven System (ADS), which is a hybrid nuclear system coupling a subcritical reactor with a spallation neutron source driven by a high-power proton accelerator.
In the face of climate change and ever increasing electricity demand, many who once opposed nuclear energy now consider it an essential component of the low-carbon energy equation. The 2011 Fukushima disaster was a major industry setback and re-ignited an international policy debate, but it also accelerated innovations in safety and efficiency. Hear the latest from Michigan's nuclear power plant operators, researchers, and local entrepreneurs striving to keep nuclear safe, cost effective, and a net benefit to our environment. Moderated by Nick Cucinelli
An exciting look at how Germany is transforming its energy system from fossil and nuclear to renewables dominance - the Energy Institute and Erb Institute are welcoming Dr. Frank Behrendt, Chair for Energy Process Engineering and Conversion Technologies for Renewable Energies at the Berlin Institute of Technology (Technische Universität Berlin).
The University of Michigan Regents resolved in 1948 that: “…the University of Michigan create a War Memorial Center to explore the ways and means by which the potentialities of atomic energy may become a beneficent influence in the life of man, to be known as the Phoenix Project of the University of Michigan.”
To this end, the Advisory Board of MMPP administers a seed-funding program for research groups developing proposals for external support. MMPP Seed Funding guidelines are:
Is nuclear energy “sustainable”? Certainly it’s not categorized as such in any federal definition of the term. Nuclear power is not ballyhooed in pro-renewable montages of solar panels and wind turbines. The nuclear industry receives none of the tax incentives renewables do. But the argument for nuclear energy as an important part of any large-scale sustainable energy plan is a powerful one, and an urgent one to explore as climate change becomes an ever more pressing reality.
A new round of seed funding from the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project (MMPP) will allow exploration of two projects aimed at improving cancer treatment and one to test improvement to wearable radiation monitoring.
The University of Michigan Regents resolved in 1948 that: “…the University of Michigan create a War Memorial Center to explore the ways and means by which the potentialities of atomic energy may become a beneficent influence in the life of man, to be known as the Phoenix Project of the University of Michigan.” To this end, the Advisory Board of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project administers a seed-funding program for research groups developing proposals for external support.
