Science news of the day thread.

[Tero]

Fukushima sample tells...something
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ar-reactor

[pErvinalia]

What does it tell?

[Brian Peacock]

Something.

[JimC]

Fucking Fukushima...

[macdoc]

consider the CO2 saved tho ....they need to get the fuckers running again.

[Brian Peacock]

consider the CO2 saved tho ....they need to get the fuckers running again.

The Japanese government and Tepco have set a target of between 30 and 40 years for the cleanup, which experts say is optimistic. No specific plan for the full removal of the fuel debris or its final disposal has been decided.

[Brian Peacock]

Graphene-chip implant in UK trial could transform brain tumour surgery

A revolutionary device designed to transform the surgical treatment of brain tumours is set to have its first clinical trial in what scientists say could be a major medical breakthrough.

The brain chip can pinpoint cancer cells through differences in their electrical emissions compared with those of healthy neural tissue.

The size of a postage stamp, the device is made of graphene, a material 200 times stronger than steel and only one atom thick. Graphene was invented 20 years ago by Manchester University scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, who later won the 2010 Nobel prize in physics for their research.

Scientists have since been working to exploit the remarkable conductive properties of graphene in order to develop new electrical and magnetic sensors and other devices. However, the flexible brain chip – now being trialled at Salford Royal hospital – is being hailed as a medical first. “This is the first ever clinical trial to be performed anywhere in the world with a graphene-based medical device,” said one of the team’s leaders, Kostas Kostarelos, a professor of nanomedicine at Manchester.

The brain-computer interface (BCI) device has been designed and fabricated by an international team of scientists in order to transform the monitoring of electrical impulses of cells in the brain by using frequencies that previously could not be detected. “Its first use will be to differentiate cancer cells from healthy cells to ensure that surgery on brain tumours is directed in a highly accurate way,” said Kostarelos...

[macdoc]

The Japanese government and Tepco have set a target of between 30 and 40 years for the cleanup, which experts say is optimistic. No specific plan for the full removal of the fuel debris or its final disposal has been decided.

and ???

Tepco fucked up in any number of ways making a one in a thousand year tsunami worse in hitting the plant.
It's 60 year old technology that thanks in part to nimby's fear mongering did not move forward as other tech has except in China.

Nuclear power is used to generate about 9–10% of the world's electricity, and is the second-largest source of low-carbon electricity. It's used in about 32 countries, plus Taiwan, and there are plans to build new reactors in many of these countries.

According to World Nuclear Association figures, China currently has 56 operable reactors with a total capacity of 54.3 GW. A further 30 reactors, with a total capacity of 32.5 GW, are under construction.21 Aug 2024

[aufbahrung]

Enough uranium to last 90 years if trade routes remain open with global collapse. China might be tempted to invade Australia for its supply of the stuff. Don't count on it lasting 90 years everywhere.

[Brian Peacock]

The Japanese government and Tepco have set a target of between 30 and 40 years for the cleanup, which experts say is optimistic. No specific plan for the full removal of the fuel debris or its final disposal has been decided.

and ???

Tepco fucked up in any number of ways making a one in a thousand year tsunami worse in hitting the plant.
It's 60 year old technology that thanks in part to nimby's fear mongering did not move forward as other tech has except in China.

Nuclear power is used to generate about 9–10% of the world's electricity, and is the second-largest source of low-carbon electricity. It's used in about 32 countries, plus Taiwan, and there are plans to build new reactors in many of these countries.

According to World Nuclear Association figures, China currently has 56 operable reactors with a total capacity of 54.3 GW. A further 30 reactors, with a total capacity of 32.5 GW, are under construction.21 Aug 2024

You said: "consider the CO2 saved tho ....they need to get the fuckers running again" - the implication being that they need to do it quickly to help reduce global CO2. I just injected a dose of realism into the discussion.

[macdoc]

I don't think you understand very well.
No one is going to restart Fukishima.
Japan IS going restart nearly all of their other nuclear reactors.
Storage of even high level nuclear material is not an issue because the scale is so small.
If you take all the high level material in ponds in the US since the nuclear age began it is a football pitch 3m deep. That is 70 yrs of material.
In that "waste"...is 400 years of obtainable power for the whole planet without mining an iota of new uranium.

There is far more dangerous radioactive material and other heavy metals in coal mine tips than in any nuclear facility.
I have walked across a working nuclear reactor above the heavy water pond and watched the glow. It's in a leafy suburb of Hamilton Ontario and has been there for 70 years. It's the uni my first wife graduated from ...no one gives any thought to it other than those involved in the research.

[Tero]

Canadian reactor? None of those ever blew up. They do not have the high pressure of water based reactors. They have D2O. India uses them.

[macdoc]

They use heavy water and none have blown up. 50% of the electrical power in Ontario comes from long standing reliable nukes and they are being added to. Do I support Australias right wing move to nuclear? .....pretty sure not as renewables much more cost effective. Depends on the progress of SMRs ....some will be added to existing Ontario campuses.
Canadian reactors will also work with thorium ...India has lots and no "proliferation" issues.

The US really needs to get moving on fast reactors to make use of the existing stockpile of fission rods and also to turn the plutonium warheads to green power. Too many NIMBY, too short election cycles.
https://world-nuclear.org/information-l ... n-reactors

[Brian Peacock]

Science is failing...

[JimC]

They probably thought that in the early 20th century, when cracks were appearing in classical physics, before quantum physics...