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US Oak Ridge National Laboratory Advances Radioisotope Nuclear Battery Development

On August 17, 2026, the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory stated that its nuclear battery program is advancing the development of radioisotope power systems to meet the demand for stable, long-life power sources in deep space exploration, long-term power supply in remote areas, and national security-related scenarios. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover poses with several of the 10 sample tubes it placed in a sample depot it established in a region of Jezero Crater called "Three Forks." The rover's radioisotope thermoelectric generator is powered by a nuclear battery. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Nuclear batteries generate electricity from the energy released by the decay of radioisotopes, making them suitable for environments such as the seafloor, remote deserts, and extraterrestrial surfaces where maintenance is difficult and continuous power supply is needed for years or even decades.

2026-08-19

Embalse Nuclear Power Plant Life Extension Experience Boosts Argentina's Nuclear Power Service Exports

Argentina's Embalse Nuclear Power Plant life extension project has become an important technical foundation for the country's nuclear power service exports. Between 2015 and 2019, the Embalse Nuclear Power Plant underwent a large-scale refurbishment, with core work including reactor tube replacement, fuel channel replacement, steam generator renewal, and upgrade of the plant's computer control system, enabling the unit to operate for another 30 years. Nuclear power plant life extension is one of the most technically challenging projects in the energy sector, requiring the dismantling, inspection, assessment, and refurbishment of key equipment that has been in operation for decades, with stringent requirements for engineering precision, quality control, and project management capability. Through the Embalse Nuclear Power Plant project, Argentina has for the first time fully implemented this complex process.

2026-08-19

Investigation into Automatic Shutdown of Unit 3 at Japan's Ohi Nuclear Power Plant: Damage Found in Exciter Rotating Rectifier

Kansai Electric Power reported on August 19 that Unit 3 of the Ohi Nuclear Power Plant experienced an automatic generator trip triggered by a generator loss-of-field alarm at 23:56 on August 8, followed by an automatic reactor shutdown. At the time of the event, the unit was operating stably at rated thermal power. The company stated that the event caused no radiological impact on the environment. The loss-of-field alarm is used to indicate an abnormal state in the magnetic field generated inside the generator. Following the incident, Kansai Electric conducted on-site inspections of equipment related to generator magnetic field establishment, including the generator, exciter, and automatic voltage regulator (AVR). Among these, the exciter is used to establish the magnetic field for the generator...

2026-08-19

Rajasthan Atomic Power Station Unit 2 Achieves First Full Year of Continuous Operation

Rajasthan Atomic Power Station Unit 2 (RAPS-2) achieved one full year of continuous operation on August 15, 2026. This marks the first time the unit has completed a full year of uninterrupted operation since it was commissioned, coinciding with India's 80th Independence Day. RAPS-2 is operated by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and is one of the oldest pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) units still in operation by the company. This milestone of one full year of continuous operation is regarded as a significant reflection of the unit's operational management and equipment maintenance standards. Relevant information indicates that this operational record reflects the sustained commitment of Units 1 and 2 at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station in safety culture, aging management, technical support, and operational organization, and also demonstrates the collaborative efforts of the on-site operations, maintenance, engineering, and support teams in ensuring stable unit operation.

2026-08-19

Norway's Thor Medical AlphaOne High-Purity Alpha Radioisotope Facility to Be Officially Inaugurated

Thor Medical ASA announced on August 19 that its AlphaOne production facility at the Herøya industrial park in Norway will be officially inaugurated on September 9, 2026, with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre attending the ceremony. According to reports, AlphaOne is Thor Medical's first industrial-scale production facility for high-purity α radioisotopes and the first of its kind globally. The facility is already in operation, primarily producing isotope products for next-generation targeted cancer therapies, supplying high-purity α emitters to the radiopharmaceutical industry. Thor Medical CEO Jasper Kurth stated that AlphaOn...

2026-08-19

Urenco USA Breaks Ground on National Enrichment Facility Expansion, Plans to Add 2.1 Million SWU Capacity

On August 18, local time, Urenco USA held a groundbreaking ceremony in Eunice, New Mexico, United States, to launch the future expansion of its commercial uranium enrichment facility. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Urenco Group Chief Executive Officer Boris Schucht, and company management attended the ceremony. Urenco USA is the only commercial-scale uranium enrichment producer in the United States, operating the National Enrichment Facility (NEF). The company announced in June this year that it would increase the facility's capacity by nearly 50%. This expansion is part of a multi-billion-dollar investment, with plans to build a new...

2026-08-19

Malaysian Nuclear Agency Strengthens Scientific Writing Training to Promote Dissemination of Nuclear Technology Research Outcomes

On August 18, the Malaysian Nuclear Agency stated that it will continue to enhance the scientific writing and publishing capabilities of its professionals and technical staff, driving research outcomes out of the laboratory to serve society and national development in a broader manner. Dr. Muhamad Rawi Mohamed Zin, Director General of the Malaysian Nuclear Agency, said at the opening of the 2026 Scientific Writing and Publishing Seminar and Workshop that scientific publications are a key indicator of whether research outcomes can promote knowledge advancement, solve practical problems, and create value for national development. High-quality publishing not only helps demonstrate research impact but also enables scientific outcomes to be shared, understood, and applied by a wider audience. This seminar...

2026-08-19

Indonesia Develops Cobalt-60 Gamma Irradiation Technology to Boost Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Oil

The Indonesian Nuclear Technology Polytechnic, under the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), has recently successfully developed cobalt-60 (Co-60) gamma irradiation technology and applied it to increase biodiesel production from waste cooking oil. The study aims to explore more efficient pathways for renewable energy production while providing a new solution for the resource utilization of waste cooking oil. Dita Ariyanti, a lecturer at the Indonesian Nuclear Technology Polytechnic, stated that with continued growth in energy consumption and declining fossil fuel reserves, the need to develop alternative energy sources is becoming increasingly urgent. For Indonesia, rising energy demand and dependence on fossil fuels also pose challenges to greenhouse gas emission reduction. Waste cooking oil was previously mostly treated as household waste, and improper disposal could pollute the environment; converting it into biodiesel can reduce waste while obtaining renewable energy.

2026-08-19

Deployable Energy and Hornbeck Offshore Partner to Advance Maritime Microreactor Applications

Deployable Energy recently announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hornbeck Offshore to advance the commercialization of the Unity nuclear battery for maritime and offshore applications. Hornbeck Offshore has also made a strategic investment in Deployable Energy. Under the arrangement, the collaboration will combine Deployable Energy's transportable microreactor technology with Hornbeck Offshore's operational expertise in offshore service vessels, focusing on applications such as inland waterways, offshore vessels and platforms, national security logistics and autonomous vessels, power generation barges, and floating data centers. ...

2026-08-19

IAEA imPACT Assessment Recommends Namibia Expand Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Services

August 18, 2026, the results of the International Atomic Energy Agency's imPACT review show that Namibia has demonstrated a clear commitment to strengthening cancer treatment, while still needing to further expand service coverage, build the oncology workforce, and improve access to cancer diagnosis and treatment nationwide. Cancer is becoming an increasingly prominent public health challenge in Namibia. Data shows that the country records more than 4,200 new cancer cases annually. According to Globocan 2024 projections, this figure is expected to rise to 7,200 by 2040. Breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, and Kaposi sarcoma currently account for nearly half of all confirmed cancer cases in Namibia...

2026-08-19

IAEA Lise Meitner Programme Concludes First Visit to Russia

The first visit to Russia under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Lise Meitner Programme recently concluded in Moscow. The two-week visit brought together 14 female nuclear industry professionals from 14 countries, focusing on Russia's nuclear technology, nuclear facilities, and research platform operations, along with training and exchanges on professional competence and leadership. During the visit, the delegation toured the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant, the Rosatom Technical Academy in Obninsk, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), and the Machine-Building Plant under Rosatom's fuel division. Participants also learned virtually about...

2026-08-19

RHIC Collision Data Provides New Evidence for the Existence of the "Baryon Bridge"

August 18 news, an international team of physicists, by analyzing nuclear collision data from the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), has presented strong evidence that baryon number may not be carried directly by quarks, but rather transmitted by a baryon bridge formed by gluons inside protons. The related paper has been published in the journal Science. Valerie A. Lentz, Brookhaven National Laboratory Baryons, including protons and neutrons, are generally considered to be composed of three quarks. In the existing understanding, the baryon number is viewed as being uniformly distributed among the three quarks. Meanwhile, gluons also exist inside protons; they are the carriers of the strong interaction. According to the description of quantum chromodynamics, gluons may form a Y-shaped structure known as a "baryon junction" or "gluon bridge" within the proton, but this structure has long lacked direct experimental evidence.

2026-08-19

U.S. Laboratory Advances Nuclear Waste Cleanup Technology R&D with Artificial Intelligence

Researchers in South Carolina, U.S., are leveraging artificial intelligence to develop new tools for tackling complex tasks such as nuclear material disposal, waste management, and environmental cleanup. The relevant projects are being conducted at the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC) in Aiken, a facility affiliated with the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), spanning approximately 63,000 square feet, with the project launched on August 7, 2025. The Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative brings together researchers, engineers, students, industry partners, and university teams, with a focus on advancing R&D in artificial intelligence, robotics, additive manufacturing, and advanced materials. Johnny Green, Director of the Savannah River National Laboratory, stated that...

2026-08-19

Indian research team uses supercomputer to track microscopic mechanisms of turbulence in dusty plasmas

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Jammu (IIT Jammu), in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), used supercomputer simulations to study the origin of chaos in dusty plasmas. By tracking the motion of millions of individual particles, the study revealed how turbulent energy is transferred from large-scale vortices to microscopic thermal motion of particles, providing a new computational perspective for nuclear fusion plasma research and astrophysical process analysis. Plasma is often referred to as the fourth state of matter. Unlike solids, liquids, and gases, atoms in plasma are ionized, forming a system composed of positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons. When tiny solid dust particles enter the plasma, these particles absorb electrons and become negatively charged, subsequently undergoing complex interactions with surrounding particles to form dusty plasma.

2026-08-19

SHINE to Advance Spent Fuel Recycling Separation Technology with Argonne National Laboratory and Others

On August 18, fusion energy company SHINE announced that it will collaborate with the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Case Western Reserve University to apply high-throughput chemical separation technology to the nuclear fuel recycling process it is currently developing. The collaboration is carried out under the CURIE program of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), with additional funding led by Case Western Reserve University, and SHINE participates as a subcontractor. Spent fuel is often referred to as nuclear waste, but it retains approximately 90% of its energy potential while containing multiple reusable byproducts. In recent years, federal programs and private investment in the United States have driven renewed interest in spent fuel recycling. Argonne National Laboratory is developing a new chemical processing device called "Packed Centrifugal Equipment for Radiochemical Separation," abbreviated as PaCERS. The device generates centrifugal force exceeding normal gravity conditions through high-speed rotation to improve chemical separation efficiency, and reduces costs across multiple stages of nuclear fuel recycling through higher throughput and lower solvent usage.

2026-08-19