What is Nuclear?

Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) hearing for Clinch River Breeder Reactor, 1982 Same for the sentence in the middle of the second paragraph, which states that additional sensitivity analyses have shown that containment temperatures and pressure margins would accommodate a wide range of material releases to containment in excess of those predicted from realistic assessment. Part of that in…

Parents' memories of Chernobyl A mother and father’s memories of the Chernobyl disaster A note from Natallia (the translator) I don’t remember much about Chernobyl’s accident because I was very little — only 4 years old. My parents, aged 44 and 47 at the time of the accident, my 8 year old sister, and I lived in Gomel (Belarus), located less than 100 miles north of Chernobyl. So I asked my parent…

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What is a nuclear reactor? By Dr. Nick Touran, Ph.D., P.E., Reading time: 15 minutes A nuclear reactor is a system that contains and controls sustained nuclear chain reactions. Reactors are used for generating electricity, moving aircraft carriers and submarines, producing medical isotopes for imaging and cancer treatment, and for conducting research. Fuel, made up of heavy atoms that split when …

What is a Microreactor? By Dr. Nick Touran, Ph.D., P.E., 2026-01-24, Reading time: 13 minutes Microreactors are small, low-power nuclear fission reactors that make less than 10 megawatts (MW) of electricity (or ~30 MW of heat). Numerous efforts to develop and deploy microreactors are ongoing with hopes to achieve breakthroughs in how nuclear power is utilized by humanity. They are characterized o…

Announcing the publication of 3 nuclear films from the 1980s-90s: one with 90's kids explaining nuclear power, one with the famous rocket-powered trucks and trains hitting test casks, and a fun one about nuclear fusion.

We should collect and display reactor data in 'Nutrition Facts' format to improve accuracy, standardization, and clarity

Tardiff, A. N. (1962). SOME ASPECTS OF THE WTR AND SL-1 ACCIDENTS (No. IDO-19308; Issue IDO-19308). Division of Reactor Development, AEC. https://doi.org/10.2172/4828615

A description of the capabilities and math behind the neutronics scoping tool.

The Rickover memo can be depicted as a Dunning-Kruger effect

Neutronics Scoping Tool This is a beta version of our new Neutronics Scoping Tool. Dial in your core dimensions and enrichment and see how critical it is and how much the fuel costs and what the normal power would be at that volume (assuming typical power density). The translucent outer area represents typical shielding required. Read more information about the tool here. Still, this is very appr…

I surveyed lots of people in the nuclear industry and made a list of reforms that most people agreed on

In the early 90s, the US bought 6 exotic TOPAZ-II space reactors from the USSR. Many interesting things happened next.

Evaluating a Nuclear Reactor Company By Dr. Nick Touran, Ph.D., P.E., Reading time: 15 minutes It’s an exciting time in the nuclear industry. Public and political support are higher than they’ve been for years. Private sector investment is soaring, and startup companies are appearing at record pace. With so much activity comes a need for better tools to help us all understand the status and diffe…

We found 27 films about the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant Project and started digitizing them.

Nuclear reactor coolants By Dr. Nick Touran, Ph.D., P.E., 2025-03-20, Reading time: 21 minutes The objective of most nuclear reactors is to unleash the energy within nuclear bonds and put it to work for some practical purpose. We normally induce a nuclear fission chain reaction in a fuel material, where the recoiling nuclei of fission products deposit their vast energy locally. As the fuel heats,…

An interesting reactor physics and history lesson explaining the origin of molten salt fluid fuel nuclear reactors

The Armour Research Reactor was a small homogeneous-type nuclear reactor with uranyl sulfate fuel dissolved in water. It was installed at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. This film, recorded in February 1958 and digitized in 2025, shows the core construction, reactor controls, shield, and various applications of the reactor.

For the last decade in nuclear, it’s been in vogue to make comparisons to SpaceX. It’s understandable why: In 2008, launch services were a stilted industry, funded almost entirely by governments and dominated by massive companies operating under cost-plus contracts. In short order, they were disrupted by an upstart, leading to radical price cuts and performance improvements. Who wouldn’t want to …

News and posts - 2026-01-19 New films digitizations: 90's kids, rocket-powered trains, and fusion - 2025-08-07 Nuclear Reactor Consumer Labels - 2025-06-28 About the Neutronics Scoping Tool - 2025-06-26 Rickover's Memo as a Dunning-Kruger Curve - 2025-05-23 Regulatory Reforms the Nuclear Industry wants - 2025-05-13 The story of the TOPAZ-II space reactors - 2025-05-02 The Clinch River Breeder Rea…