nuclear-physics

Brookhaven Lab researchers have developed and built a single experimental setup where four different computed tomography techniques can be conducted on the same experimental sample, establishing a holistic approach to fully characterize nuclear materials across a wide range of size scales, from the arrangement of individual atoms to a material's overall structure. With this all-in-one approach, r…

Argonne National Laboratory and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Nuclear Education Skills and Technology Framework co-host a summer school focused on small modular reactors.

To monitor the amount and type of nuclear material at power plants and weapons facilities, scientists look for a special signal—the unique pattern of gamma rays emitted by specific radioactive elements. However, some of these elements also emit X-rays in the same energy range as the gamma-ray emissions, masking the signal and making nuclear stockpiles […]

NIST developed quantum sensors to more accurately monitor nuclear material at power plants and weapons facilities, measuring X-ray emissions from plutonium, uranium and neptunium with unprecedented accuracy. These measurements support international nuclear safeguards by enabling more precise accounting of material in nuclear facilities.

The amount of undeclared uranium from the DRC’s cobalt mines could – if processed – produce enough material for 600-1,500 nuclear weapons.

Consider an electron beam which is targeted towards some object with a certain depth. The concept of dose refers to the amount of energy expended by the electrons in collisions with atoms of the object. Naturally the electrons kinetic energy is maximal at the surface, hence this is where they can expend the most energy in collisions, and therefore the dose is maximal at the surface. Ionization on…

The International Atomic Energy Agency brokered a temporary ceasefire in and around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant that allowed key repairs at the Russian-occupied nuclear power plant to be carried out, the organization announced Saturday. Workers began repairing a damaged power line north of the Dnipro River, the IAEA update said. Those repairs, completed earlier this week, restored off-site power…

According to a report by the Associated Press, inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency have confirmed that Syria under the leadership of President Bashar Assad, who was ousted amid civil conflict in 2024, was building a nuclear reactor in the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez Zor. The IAEA inspectors visited that site in August, following up on a previous inspection that had detected …

I see a news about the blow up solution of NS equation . Like the picture below, the speed at the center is very high, which means the energy of the particles is also very high. This is conducive to the ignition of nuclear fusion. And, the peripheral area moves slowly, creating a natural barrier of isolation. This almost simultaneously solved both the problems of ignition and damage to the conta…

I know that a particle (for example proton) should need a minimum kinetic energy(due to the coulombic repulsion) to react with a nucleus. But why we do not write the kinetic energy of the particle bombarded while calculating the energy released or Q-value. Maybe the kinetic energy would be used in overcoming barrier height. But what if kinetic energy is more than the barrier height then why do we…

Helion Energy has opened a downtown Seattle office as its headcount hits 800 employees, adding to its five-building Everett headquarters and its Malaga, Wash., site, where the fusion startup is building its Orion generator facility. The company, which has raised more than $1.5 billion, is racing to get Orion operational within two years to meet a contract to supply fusion energy to a Microsoft da…

Really simple question, but I'm confused with it because of contradictions between sources (absence of clarity online vs lecture notes (says nuclear) and practise questions provided (uses atomic) ) In the reaction energy: $$Q=E_{R,i} - E_{R,f} = K_f - K_i$$ Does one use the atomic masses or the mass of the nucleus (like what is needed for binding energy?) when solving for this? Thanks very much i…

Was an usual flash detected off the coast of South Africa by an American satellite caused by a secretive atmospheric nuclear test?

The architect of the atomic age had no emergency button, no computer failsafe—just a physicist with an axe and steady nerves standing between Chicago and catastrophe.

How researchers at Justus Liebig University Giessen combined plastic scintillators, dual SiPM geometries, and Red Pitaya’s FPGA platform to replace bulky photomultiplier tubes for in-situ 𝒏/𝜸 discrimination.

Nuclear weapons have been banned from space for nearly 60 years. A new detection method could help verify whether nations are keeping that promise.

Recently, I have learn't about the Gamows factor, and I have plotted it. Then I realized that the probability of Deuterium and tritium fusing at a temperature of 150 million kelvin when they collide, was about 0.00048. But, I know that the nuclear cross section for fusion is extremely small (about 1-1000 barns). But why is this so? I f the probability of fusion is 0.00048 when they collide, then …