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Can the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Avoid a Major Disaster?

Union of Concerned Scientists

It has been reported that on August 25, the plant temporarily lost all of its off-site electrical power from the grid, which is essential for its safe operation, forcing it to rely on on-site backup power. That could lead to loss of the cooling ponds, which are needed to cool the plant’s diesel generators, enabling them to function.

Cooling 354
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Five Things the “Nuclear Bros” Don’t Want You to Know About Small Modular Reactors

Union of Concerned Scientists

SMRs are nuclear reactors that are “small” (defined as 300 megawatts of electrical power or less), can be largely assembled in a centralized facility, and would be installed in a modular fashion at power generation sites. What are SMRs? Some proposed SMRs are so tiny (20 megawatts or less) that they are called “micro” reactors.

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Solar panels can heat the local urban environment, systematic review reveals

Physics World

The researchers suggest future work should focus on increasing the reflectance of wavelengths of sunlight not converted to electricity. Specifically, we found that photovoltaics can significantly warm the urban environment during the day, but typically cool the urban environment at night. What research did you include in your study?

Cooling 137
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Solar cell keeps going after sunset

Physics World

A new type of photovoltaic cell continues working after sunset thanks to an additional generator that harvests electricity from the temperature difference between the cell and its surroundings. At night, the cells lose heat to their surroundings, leaving them several degrees cooler than the ambient air due to radiative cooling.

Radiation 119
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Long-awaited magnetic interferometer might probe quantum gravity

Physics World

These tiny electric circuits trap atoms, ions or molecules just above their surface, and make it possible to produce strong magnetic field gradients much more accurately than is possible using macroscopic coils. Although new cooling techniques could up the nano-diamond’s coherence length to about 0.1

Radiation 144
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Feature- Remembering March 28, 1979 At The Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant - The Accident No One Thought Would Happen

PA Environment Daily

Unit 1 at Three Mile Island continued to operate until it was shut down in September, 2019 as a result of competition with natural gas-fired electric generation. The cooling down process, however, took a month and the radioactive plant would take years to decontaminate. Read more here. Read more here. William Scranton, and then Gov.

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Transient superconducting states could have practical applications, say physicists

Physics World

Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity without any resistance when cooled to below their superconducting transition temperature, T c. Switching on and off.