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German Science and Humanities Council Supports German Participation in the LEGEND-1000 Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Experiment

On July 27, 2026, the German Science and Humanities Council expressed its support for German participation in the LEGEND-1000 experiment. The project had previously passed scientific evaluation and was deemed significant for a broad research community in the fields of particle physics and nuclear physics. LEGEND-1000 is the next phase of the large-scale enriched germanium neutrinoless double β decay experiment, planned to be constructed by an international collaborative team at the underground laboratory of the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. German participating institutions include the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg and the Technical University of Munich, with project leaders being Professor Susanne Mertens and Professor Stefan Schönert, respectively. According to the project...

2026-08-03

Kairos Power Advances Flibe Molten Salt Applications to Support KP-FHR High-Temperature Reactor Development

Kairos Power announced on July 29 that its Fluoride Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor (KP-FHR) will be among the early adopters of a fluoride salt coolant. This coolant, commonly referred to as Flibe, is composed of lithium fluoride (LiF) and beryllium fluoride (BeF₂). In the 1960s, Oak Ridge National Laboratory used this material as a coolant in the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment. According to Kairos Power, Flibe has a high specific heat capacity, enabling it to effectively absorb and transfer heat generated in the reactor core. Compared with some sodium-cooled or helium-cooled reactor systems, fluoride salt offers certain advantages in heat transport...

2026-08-03

Bolivia Advances Legislative Process for Peaceful Nuclear Technology Applications

EL ALTO, Bolivia, July 29 - The Bolivian Nuclear Energy Agency (ABEN) recently held working exchanges with relevant committees of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly to discuss the reactivation of related legislative agendas, focusing on the continued advancement of Bolivia's nuclear energy program and peaceful nuclear technology application projects. René Soria Sausedo, Executive Director of ABEN, stated that as the primary operating entity of Bolivia's nuclear program, ABEN bears the responsibility of driving the implementation of peaceful nuclear technology application projects. These efforts require modern legal instruments to define institutional mandates, technical standards, and the fundamental legal framework for project development. The parliamentary delegation, led by the President of the International Policy and Migration Protection Committee, visited ABEN facilities...

2026-08-03

Romania Blasts Rocks in Danube to Secure Nuclear Power Plant Water Supply

Romania is conducting blasting operations on rocks in the Danube River to ensure the water supply for the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant. The Ministry of National Defense has launched related actions aimed at altering the river's flow, diverting part of the water from the Bala branch to the Old Danube branch. Initial blasting operations began on Sunday, involving over one hundred military personnel and sixteen pieces of military equipment. According to Navy Reserve Commander Marcel Neculae, the first two explosions failed to completely destroy the target rock, which proved harder than expected. Navy divers are currently assessing the blasting results, after which explosive charges will be gradually increased to continue the operation. Romania's water resources authority has also noted the complexity of the project and warned that it may not succeed.

2026-08-03

U.S. to Resume Shipping Transuranic Waste Drums from Savannah River Site to WIPP for Permanent Disposal

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) will resume shipping remote-handled transuranic waste drums from the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico for permanent disposal on July 28, 2026. Prior to resuming shipments, relevant teams have completed flammable gas analysis, confirming that these waste containers meet safety requirements for transport to the underground disposal facility. Flammable gas sampling is a critical safety step before transuranic waste transportation. Workers assess potential combustion risks inside containers by detecting gases such as hydrogen, methane, and volatile organic compounds, and confirm their safety during transport and disposal...

2026-08-03

Utah Finalist for DOE Nuclear Fuel Cycle Site, with Great Salt Lake Rescue as Bargaining Chip

Utah is seeking an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hoping to secure federal nuclear hub status while also gaining assistance in addressing the Great Salt Lake crisis. Governor Spencer Cox and U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed a memorandum agreeing to collaborate on realizing the full value of the nuclear fuel cycle. However, this agreement does not mean Utah has decided to build the nuclear hub, and the state will decline if it is deemed unsafe or disadvantageous. Currently, Utah is one of five states competing for the federal Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Park, which aims to consolidate all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle in one location, including fuel fabrication, enrichment,...

2026-08-03

U.S. Department of Energy Highlights Progress in Legacy Waste Cleanup and Medical Isotope R&D

Recently, senior officials from the U.S. Department of Energy attended an event hosted by the U.S. House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus, presenting the application progress of legacy nuclear waste cleanup efforts in medical isotope R&D and future energy technologies. The event, themed "DOE's Isotope Mission: Legacy Cleanup Saves Lives, Empowers America's Future," focused on how nuclear cleanup missions align with isotope production and medical research. DOE's Under Secretary for Science Dario Gil, along with Oak Ridge National Laboratory Environmental Management Office Manager Eric Olds and Savannah River Operations Office Manager Edwin DeShon, jointly attended the event. DeShon...

2026-08-03

DUNE Prototype Detector Undergoes 300 kV Pressure Test at CERN

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), an international collaborative project led by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory under the U.S. Department of Energy, is conducting pressure tests on the prototype detector ProtoDUNE at CERN's Neutrino Platform to verify the long-term stability of the relevant detection technology under extreme operating conditions. DUNE is designed as a large-scale neutrino research experiment aimed at studying the properties of neutrinos and their role in the evolution of the universe. The experiment will install large liquid argon time projection chamber detectors approximately one mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota, USA. Once the detectors are filled with liquid argon and sealed, internal components will be difficult to access for extended periods...

2026-08-03

Japanese Team Discovers New Ordered State of "Electronic Chirality" in Uranium Compound

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency and Tohoku University announced on July 28 that their research team has discovered a new electronic ordered state in the uranium compound URhSn, confirming for the first time in an actual material that even when the crystal structure itself lacks chirality, the arrangement of electrons within the material can spontaneously form right-handed/left-handed characteristics. Chirality generally refers to the property where an object cannot perfectly coincide with its mirror image, such as left and right hands, screw thread directions, and the helical structure of DNA. In the past, material chirality was generally believed to originate from asymmetry in atomic arrangement. This study demonstrates, however, that chirality can also arise from the ordered arrangement of electron distributions. The research team used single-crystal samples of URhSn, composed of uranium, rhodium, and tin, and employed nuclear magnetic...

2026-08-03

Antihydrogen hyperfine splitting measurement sets new precision record

The ALPHA collaboration at CERN has recently completed a new measurement of the ground-state hyperfine splitting of antihydrogen. The results show that the hyperfine splitting of antihydrogen and ordinary hydrogen agrees within an uncertainty of four parts per million, improving the measurement precision by two orders of magnitude over previous experiments. Antihydrogen tamers: ALPHA team members from the University of Calgary in Canada. Back row, left to right: Pouya Heidari, Reece Stefanyshyn, Abbygale Swadling, Filobateer Ghaly, Sean Wilson, and Alberto Jesus Uribe Jimenez. Front row: Jay Suh (left) and Timothy Friesen. (Photo courtesy of Jay Suh) Antihydrogen consists of...

2026-08-03

Radiation protection expert Peter Bryant to lead University of Liverpool's Chadwick Institute for Nuclear Innovation

The University of Liverpool has announced that Professor Peter Bryant has been appointed as the Director of the newly established Chadwick Institute for Nuclear Innovation, with his tenure officially commencing in September 2026. The Chadwick Institute for Nuclear Innovation is named after Nobel laureate Sir James Chadwick, who served as Head of the Physics Department at the University of Liverpool and is renowned for his discovery of the neutron. The Institute will leverage the University of Liverpool's research expertise, innovative facilities, and strategic partnerships in the nuclear energy sector to advance research and talent development in nuclear innovation. Bryant has long been engaged in work related to the civil nuclear fuel cycle, with his research and management portfolio encompassing radiation protection, environmental permitting, radioactive waste...

2026-08-03

Large Structure for CMS Future High-Granularity Calorimeter Passes Rigorous Cold Tests

A key engineering test for the future High-Granularity Calorimeter (HGCAL) of the CMS experiment at CERN has recently made progress. One of the largest HGCAL structures has completed a series of rigorous cold tests, during which no overheating, condensation, or leakage was recorded on the outer panels, laying the groundwork for its future service at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). HGCAL will replace the existing endcap calorimeters of the CMS experiment to reconstruct particle showers with greater precision under HL-LHC operating conditions. The structure tested this time is the first of two large stainless steel absorber structures. By design, the active elements of HGCAL will be installed within the absorber structures and must maintain long-term stable performance in a cryogenic environment...

2026-08-03

Japanese Poll: 76% of Respondents Support Maintaining the "Three Non-Nuclear Principles"

The Tokyo Shimbun, citing a national poll conducted by the Kyodo News-affiliated survey organization from June to July among 3,000 people aged 18 and above, reported that 76% of Japanese support maintaining the Three Non-Nuclear Principles of not manufacturing, not possessing, and not allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons; 77% oppose nuclear-sharing arrangements (i.e., the U.S. stationing nuclear weapons in Japan and operating them jointly). Given that Japan is the only country to have suffered atomic bombing in war, the results highlight strong anti-nuclear sentiment, while debate over whether to revise the principles is intensifying. Support for Japan joining the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons before the first review conference in November stands at 55%, down 5 percentage points from the previous year; opponents account for 42%, of whom 56% believe that joining would not lead to nuclear disarmament. Regarding recent U.S. actions...

2026-08-03

Multinational Team Reveals Mechanisms of Lithiation in Modulating the Structural and Electronic Properties of Borophene Using Synchrotron Techniques

A research team from the Institute of Physics in Zagreb, Croatia, Elettra Synchrotron in Trieste, Italy, Shimane University, and Tokyo University of Science recently conducted a study on the interaction between lithium atoms and borophene, revealing the mechanisms by which lithiation affects the atomic structure and electronic properties of borophene. The findings were published in *ACS Nano* and selected as the journal cover article. (a) Shift of the B 1s core level toward higher binding energy; (b) reduction of the sample work function due to charge transfer from Li atoms to B atoms; (c) lithium atoms (yellow) deposited on borophene (magenta) induce deformation of the borophene lattice, attributed to significant charge redistribution within the system...

2026-08-03

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Signs Memorandums of Understanding with Coast Guard and Marine Minerals Administration to Strengthen Offshore Nuclear Energy Cooperation

Recently, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and the newly established Marine Minerals Administration (MMA), respectively, aimed at strengthening coordination and cooperation on civilian offshore nuclear projects. These initiatives come at a time of growing interest in nuclear technology within the commercial shipping sector, including projects such as nuclear-powered vessels and floating nuclear power plants. The agreement with the Coast Guard updates a previous agreement signed with the Atomic Energy Commission in 1973, aiming to modernize regulatory processes and ensure effective management of the design, construction, operation, and oversight of civilian nuclear reactors at sea. Meanwhile, the NRC's cooperation with the MMA focuses on clarifying jurisdictional issues for any potential nuclear projects on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

2026-08-03