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How dangerous is nuclear power? Three lessons from Japan.
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Energy Voices Fukushima two years later: How safe are US nuclear plants?

Two years after Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster, US officials say the country's nuclear plants are safe. A new report from an environmental organization challenges that assertion.
Deal at Czech nuclear power plant fuels US-Russia economic rivalry

Companies with ties to the US and Russia are battling for a contract to expand a Czech nuclear power plant, which analysts say may be the gateway to kickstarting other nuclear power projects in Eastern Europe.
One-minute algae: new source of oil?

New process can quickly turn algae into biocrude. But it's not the same as nature's crude oil.
Officials keep close eye on nuclear power plants as Sandy's winds whip

Though no nuclear power plants have been taken offline so far, officials along the east coast are overseeing plants carefully as hurricane Sandy makes landfall in New Jersey.
Scientists manage to boil water without bubbles

A new type of nanomaterial exploits the Leidenfrost effect, in which droplets of water can skate across hot a hot surface without boiling away, to boil water without creating explosive bubbles.
World is ignoring most important lesson from Fukushima nuclear disaster

Fukushima's most important lesson is this: Probability theory (that disaster is unlikely) failed us. If you have made assumptions, you are not prepared. Nuclear power plants should have multiple, reliable ways to cool reactors. Any nuclear plant that doesn't heed this lesson is inviting disaster.
Q&A: Illinois nuclear plant loses power. What got vented into the air?

A nuclear plant in Illinois shut down one reactor Monday after a transformer failed. The problem is growing for aging nuclear plants. But in this case, the public was never in danger, officials say.
Russia reconquers Eastern Europe via business

Russia's Kremlin-backed businesses are snapping up assets in former Eastern Europe, though governments are still wary.
Cheap drip irrigation could transform small farms

Peter Frykman founded Driptech to provide low-cost drip-irrigation systems to small farmers, hiking their crop yields by 20 to 90 percent.
Opinion: American manufacturing needs skilled workers

American manufacturing is not dead. In fact, it has accounted for many of the new jobs created since the Great Recession. It will not survive, however, unless it builds up a skilled labor force. Fortunately, industry and the White House are waking up to this challenge.
Missouri River soaks Nebraska nuclear plant, but it's no Fukushima

Much of the grounds at Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska are under two feet of water from the rising Missouri River. But the plant's critical systems sit six feet above the flood's expected crest.
Germany to phase out nuclear power. Could the US do the same?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has endorsed a plan to end all nuclear power in Germany by 2022. Increasingly, studies suggest this is not a far-fetched idea, even for the US.
Nuclear power and radiation

A Christian Science perspective: Prayer can support the efforts of engineers and others to find inspired answers.
25 years after Chernobyl, Europe debates nuclear power's future

In Germany, phasing out nuclear energy is not a question of if, but when. France, however, has seen only minor expressions of dissent about its reactors.
Robots throw doubt on 'road map' to control Fukushima crisis

Robots found high radiation levels in reactor buildings 1 and 3 Monday, which could make it impossible for workers to enter the Fukushima plant to carry out crucial fixes.
Why Fukushima isn't Chernobyl, despite rise in crisis level

Japan's prime minister is urging the public not to panic after the government boosted the severity level of the crisis at Fukushima to the highest rating, the same level as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Fukushima warning: US has 'utterly failed' to address risk of spent fuel

Nuclear experts told Congress Wednesday that spent-fuel pools at US nuclear power plants are fuller than safety suggests they should be. They say the entire US spent-fuel policy should be overhauled in light of the nuclear crisis at Japan's Fukushima plant.
Can Japan's disaster help prepare the world for climate change?

Nobody expected that a tsunami would affect Japan's nuclear plants. And climate change will raise the possibility of such awful, unlikely happenings around the world.
Japan nuclear crisis: Has the US industry learned something?

Administration officials, in the first formal accounting to Congress on the Japan nuclear crisis, assured senators that US reactors are safe. But industry critics said much needs to be improved.
How dangerous is nuclear power? Three lessons from Japan.

The devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has become the latest poster child for long-standing issues surrounding nuclear energy – issues that need to be resolved to reduce the risk of a similar nuclear crisis in the United States. These range from the seemingly eternal conundrum over dealing with highly radioactive spent fuel, to fire hazards, plant design, and emergency plans, say nuclear engineers and nuclear-safety watchdogs.
Plutonium found in soil near Fukushima plant

Plutonium has been found in low quantities in the soil around the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant as public dissatisfaction with officials continues to percolate.
Do US nuclear plants have defective parts? NRC finds reporting flaws.

An NRC report finds that 28 percent of US nuclear power plant operators did not share information on defective parts with federal regulators. 'Confusion' over reporting rules is blamed.
Top priority in US earthquake study: nuclear power plant near New York City

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls the Indian Point nuclear power plant near New York City a 'catastrophe waiting to happen.' Federal nuclear power regulators promise to make Indian Point, which sits near a fault, a top priority in their review of seismic hazards.
Critics cite 'severe seismic risk' at California nuclear power plants

State and federal legislators voice concerns about the earthquake risk at two California nuclear power plants – as well as the adequacy of safety protocols in place there.
Japan nuclear crisis: Closer to stabilization, but what about food supply?

The most dangerous of Japan’s stricken nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant appeared to stabilize Saturday, according to Japanes authorities.