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☆ Nuclear fusion breakthrough: Scientists generate more power than used to create reaction
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Fusion is the way that the sun makes power, but recreating a useful fusion reaction here on earth has eluded scientists for decades. The National Ignition Facility target chamber at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is where scientists shoot lasers and watch and measure what happens when those lasers collide on a fuel source. Reaching ignition means the fusion experiment produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy that used to drive the reaction. "For the first time on Earth, scientists have confirmed a fusion energy experiment released more power than it takes to initiate, proving the physical basis for fusion energy. But it's proven extremely challenging to sustain a fusion reaction here on earth, and scientists have been trying for decades.

☆ How nuclear fusion works, and why it's a big deal for green energy that scientists made a 'breakthrough'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

US Department of Energy scientists produced a nuclear fusion reaction with a net energy gain. The US Department of Energy officially announced the milestone in fusion energy research on Tuesday. For the first time, researchers created a nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than they put into it. What is fusion energy and why is it a big deal? This illustration shows how lasers heat a target to the necessary conditions for nuclear fusion to occur.

☆ U.S. to announce scientific breakthrough on fusion energy -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies U.S. Department of Energy FollowWASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy will announce on Tuesday that scientists at a national lab have made a breakthrough on fusion energy, the process that powers the sun and stars that one day could provide a cheap source of electricity, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. The scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have achieved a net energy gain for the first time, in a fusion experiment using lasers, one of the people said. Other methods of fusion use magnets instead of lasers. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is slated to hold a media briefing on Tuesday at 10:00 EST (1500 GMT) on a "major scientific breakthrough." Private industry secured more than $2.8 billion dollars last year for fusion, according to the Fusion Industry Association for a total of about $5 billion in recent years.

Researchers for decades have attempted to recreate nuclear fusion – replicating the fusion that powers the sun. Nuclear fusion happens when two or more atoms are fused into one larger one, a process that generates a massive amount of energy as heat. Scientists across the globe have been inching toward the breakthrough, using different methods to try to achieve the same goal. This heat can then be used to warm water, create steam and power turbines to generate power. “The opposing argument is that this result is miles away from actual energy gain required for the production of electricity,” he said.

☆ The UN has said nuclear war is 'back within the realm of possibility.' Here are the places in the US most likely to be hit in a nuclear attack.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Alex Lockie | Abbie Shull | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said earlier in the year that nuclear war is "back within the realm of possibility." A Russian nuclear attack would likely focus on high-value targets in North Dakota or Montana. Even if every single US intercontinental ballistic missile silo, stockpiled nuclear weapon, and nuclear-capable bomber were flattened, US nuclear submarines could — and would — retaliate. Brooke Buddemeier/Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryThe US has strategically positioned the bulk of its nuclear forces, which double as nuclear targets, far from population centers. Update: This article was originally published in 2017 but has since been updated and re-published amid concerns that the war in Ukraine could escalate to nuclear war.

☆ The US had a plan in the 1960s to blast an alternative Suez Canal through Israel using 520 nuclear bombs
▼ + stars: | 2021-03-25 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A declassified memorandum reveals a 1963 US plan to create an alternative to the Suez Canal. A cargo ship is currently stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking the vital shipping routeTop editors give you the stories you want — delivered right to your inbox each weekday. The historian Alex Wellerstein called the plan a "modest proposal for the Suez Canal situation" on Twitter on March 24, 2021. It suggested that an "interesting application of nuclear excavation would be a sea-level canal 160 miles long across Israel." The laboratory noted that there were 130 miles of "virtually unpopulated desert wasteland, and are thus amenable to nuclear excavation methods."

Persons: —, Alex Wellerstein, Lawrence Organizations: Service, Twitter, US Department of Energy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, US Atomic Energy Commission, Forbes, Atomic Energy Commission Locations: Suez, Israel, Aqaba, Central America

☆ A nuclear attack would most likely target one of these 6 US cities — but an expert says none of them are prepared
▼ + stars: | 2019-12-17 | by ( Aria Bendix | Taylor Ardrey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

A nuclear attack on US soil would most likely target one of six cities: New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Washington, DC. A nuclear attack in a large metropolitan area is one of the 15 disaster scenarios for which the US Federal Emergency Management Agency has an emergency strategy. That includes the six urban areas that Redlener thinks are the most likely targets of a nuclear attack: New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. "Can you imagine a public official keeping buildings intact for fallout shelters when the real-estate market is so tight?" Both experts agreed that for a city to be prepared for a nuclear attack, it must acknowledge that such an attack is possible — even if the threat is remote.

☆ If a nuclear weapon is about to explode, here are 17 things you can do
▼ + stars: | 2018-01-24 | by ( Dave Mosher | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Here is how to best protect yourself in case of a nuclear blast, according to trusted sources. A pulse of nuclear radiation. The blast wave is slower, but goes much farther. What to do if you're outside when the blast hitsIf you're outside, your first priority is to shelter from the blast wave. Be prepared to shelterIt's best to hunker down in your blast shelter if you're unsure whether it's safe to move.

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