Germany’s new “renewable” energy policy: building new coal-fired plants!!!

Since when coal-fired plants have been considered source of renewable/green energy??? Germany’s new “renewable” energy policy: http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/49120?goback=.gde_3734003_member_155071529   "In mid-August, Germany opened a new 2200MW coal-fired power station near Cologne, and virtually not a word has been said about it. This dearth of reporting is even more surprising when one considers that Germany has said building new coal plants is necessary because electricity produced by wind and solar has turned out to be unaffordablyexpensive and unreliable.
In a deteriorating economic situation, Germany’s new environment minister, Peter Altmaier, who is as politically close to Chancellor Angela Merkel as it gets, has underlined time and again the importance of not further harming Europe’s – and Germany’s – economy by increasing the cost of electricity.
He is also worried that his country could become dependent on foreign imports of electricity, the mainstay of its industrial sector. To avoid that risk, Altmaier has given the green light to build twenty-three new coal-fired plants, which are currently under construction."

New build: tackling the cost issue

Food for thought: New build: tackling the cost issue: http://analysis.nuclearenergyinsider.com/new-build/new-build-tackling-cost-issue?utm_source=http%3A%2F%2Fuk.nuclearenergyinsider.com%2Ffc_nei_decomlz%2F&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NEI+e-brief+2908&utm_term=New+build%3A+tackling+the+cost+issue&utm_content=151899 ..."So when comparing a wind or solar farm to a nuclear power plant, the immediate and long-term costs also have to be relative to the quality of power you are getting every day and basically over the next few decades. If nuclear plant costs are transparent throughout the plant's economic cycle including recycling the spent fuel--while at the same time communicating to stakeholders and the public of the benefits received (reliable power, job creation, R&D innovation)--then the 'nuclear bill' may not be so hard to swallow. "

CAP member survey on NSERC's DG, RTI and MRS programs

The results of the CAP member survey on NSERC's DG, RTI and MRS programs are now available on the CAP's website: http://www.cap.ca/en/news/2012-08-27/summary-capnserc-survey-results-and-observations ..."78% agree that it will be difficult to maintain and/or grow their research infrastructure with only the CFI program."

CAP submission to House of Commons Finance Committee

CAP submission to House of Commons Finance Committee: http://www.cap.ca/en/news/2012-07-29/cap-submission-house-commons-finance-committee ... among recommendations is to preserve the basic research capabilities currently housed in federal organizations: "While the economy will benefit from industry-driven research at AECL and NRC, which are being restructured, these organizations also support basic research and access to large-scale research infrastructure. The basic research capacity at other federal organizations, such as CSA and Environment Canada, is being reduced. Transferring these functions to other organizations may be the best way to preserve them if these functions no longer fit their current organizational mandates." the full pdf document is found at this link... will any one listen???

The other noteworthy recommendation is to create a Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI): "The Jenkins report recommended creating a Minister for Innovation. In fact, Canada needs a Minister that can give full attention to the entire STI spectrum because of the critical importance of STI to productivity, and because technological innovation cannot be separated from the research that makes it possible.
Ultimately, these improvements will translate into more research outcomes such as technological advances that increase productivity overall."

Further Progress on Point Lepreau Restart

CNSC allows "New Brunswick Power Nuclear (NBPN) to increase reactor power above 0.1% of its full capacity, in order to complete further safety checks. Looking forward, NBPN will also require regulatory approval to increase power above 35% of full power.": http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/mediacentre/releases/news_release.cfm?news_release_id=421

New neutron generation: Going from tubes to chips

Sandia National Laboratories’ work on neutron generation: Going from tubes to chips: https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/neutron_generator/

"It was a figurative whack on the head that started Sandia National Laboratories distinguished technical staff member Juan Elizondo-Decanini thinking outside the box — which in his case was a cylinder.

He developed a new configuration for neutron generators by turning from conventional cylindrical tubes to the flat geometry of computer chips. For size comparison, small neutron generators, which are like mini accelerators, are 1 to 2 inches in diameter, he said.
“The idea of a computer chip-shaped neutron source — compact, simple and inexpensive to mass-produce — opens the door for a host of applications,” Elizondo-Decanini said.
The most practical, and the most likely to be near-term, would be a tiny medical neutron source implanted close to a tumor that would allow cancer patients to receive a low neutron dose over a long period at home instead of having to be treated at a hospital, he said."

Also worth repeating is the benefits of having national labs: "Elizondo-Decanini’s vision for the neutron generator of the future is one that uses no tritium and no vacuum, is made in a solid state package and is fabricated at Sandia’s Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications (MESA) complex.

“That has very dramatic technology implications and challenges,” he said. “But that’s what I tell people, that’s what the national labs are all about.”"

A Cold War puzzle persists

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/2012/aug/23/a-cold-war-puzzle-persists
A Cold War puzzle persists
"Aug 23, 2012
The Pontecorvo Affair: a Cold War Defection and Nuclear Physics
Simone Turchetti
2012 University of Chicago Press £29.00/$45.00hb 292pp
Cold War science
I was a teenager in Hungary when I first heard that the nuclear physicist Bruno Pontecorvo had defected from the West to the Soviet Union. The communist press praised his defection as a testament to the superiority of Soviet science and Soviet life, but to us it was a great puzzle, and it has remained one for more than 60 years. His action was unique, as no other well-known scientist ever defected from the West to the East. Defections in the opposite direction were less extraordinary.
The latest attempt at fathoming his actions is The Pontecorvo Affair. Written by the University of Manchester historian Simone Turchetti, the book provides an informative account of Pontecorvo's life up to his defection. Although it does not offer an unambiguous explanation for the event itself, it does go some way towards satisfying the historian's curiosity about Pontecorvo's motivations. Curiosity about the second half of the physicist's life, however, is left entirely unsatisfied, as the book more or less avoids discussing how he adapted to life behind the Iron Curtain.

Merkel’s Green Shift Forces Germany to Burn More Coal

Merkel’s Green Shift Forces Germany to Burn More Coal: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-19/merkel-s-green-shift-forces-germany-to-burn-more-coal-energy.html ... too bad: "The startup of the 2,200-megawatt station near Cologne last week shows how Europe’s largest economy is relying more on the most-polluting fuel. Coal consumption has risen 4.9 percent since Merkel announced a plan to start shutting the country’s atomic reactors after last year’s Fukushima disaster in Japan.
Germany’s largest utilities RWE and EON AG (EOAN) are shunning cleaner-burning natural gas because it’s more costly, while the collapsing cost of carbon permits means there’s little penalty for burning coal. Wind and solar projects, central to Germany’s plans to reduce nuclear energy and cut the release of heat- trapping gases, can’t produce electricity around the clock.

“Angela Merkel’s policy has created an incentive structure which has the effect of partially replacing nuclear with coal, the dirtiest fuel that’s responsible for much of the growth in the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions since 1990,” Dieter Helm, an energy policy professor at the University of Oxford, said by phone Aug. 17. Building new coal stations means “locking them in for the next 30 years” as a type of generation, Helm said.

Germany’s increasing coal consumption is part of a global return to the fossil fuel that’s cheaper than most alternatives. The amount of coal burned worldwide rose 5.4 percent to account for 30 percent of total energy use last year, the highest proportion since 1969, according to BP Plc (BP/) data."

Nuclear power is the key to slowing global warming

A good read: Nuclear power is the key to slowing global warming http://www.nj.com/times-opinion/index.ssf/2012/08/opinion_nuclear_power_is_the_k.html ..."Almost half of the emissions reductions have come from power plants, particularly the switch away from coal in electricity generation. Coal’s share is forecast to fall below 40 percent for the year, down from 54 percent just four years ago, and by the end of this decade, it’s likely to be near 30 percent. The principal replacement source has been natural gas, which has less than 50 percent of coal’s carbon content. Had the switch been to nuclear power, which produces zero emissions, the decline would have been far greater. And nuclear power would be far better for public health, since it doesn’t pollute the air.
Yet many environmental leaders, though by no means all, oppose the use of nuclear power. Denying the vital role nuclear plants play in the battle against climate change is crazy, given that nuclear power accounts for 70 percent of the carbon-free energy in the United States. New Jersey receives 50 percent of its electricity from nuclear power plants."

a related article, also a good read: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/shunning_new_nuclear_power_plants_will_lead_to_warmer_world/2510/ ..."A physicist argues that if we allow our overblown and often irrational fears of nuclear energy to block the building of a significant number of new nuclear plants, we will be choosing a far more perilous option: the intensified burning of planet-warming fossil fuels."

Environmental approval for the Midwest uranium project in Saskatchewan

Environmental approval for the Midwest uranium project in Saskatchewan: http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/ENF-Environmental_approval_for_Canadian_mine-2008124.html ..."The Midwest project is located some 15km west of the McClean Lake operation. It has indicated resources of 42.9 million pounds U3O8 (16,500 tU) at an average ore grade of 5.5%. The project involves development of the Midwest ore deposit as an open pit mine; development of a dedicated haul road linking the Midwest development with the existing McClean Lake operation; and increasing the production capacity of the JEB mill at McClean Lake to accommodate the planned rate for milling of the Midwest ore. The partners in the Midwest joint venture comprise Areva Resources Canada (69.16%), Denison (25.17%) and OURD Canada Co (5.67%). Midwest is to be operated by Areva Resources, which already operates McClean Lake."

news release from Areva: http://us.areva.com/EN/home-1967/canadian-environmental-review-completed.html

Nuclear power project in Canada receives site preparation license

Nuclear power project in Canada receives site preparation license: http://www.power-eng.com/articles/2012/08/nuclear-power-project-in-canada-receives-site-preparation-license.html ..."The Joint Review Panel (JRP) of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) on August 17 said it will issue a Nuclear Power Reactor Site Preparation License to Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) for its new nuclear power plant project at the Darlington nuclear site for a period of 10 years. The license will be valid from Aug. 17, 2012 to Aug. 17, 2022.
In June 2012, OPG announced it had signed agreements with Westinghouse and SNC-Lavalin/Candu Energy Inc., to prepare detailed construction plans, schedules and cost estimates for two potential nuclear reactors at the Darlington Nuclear site.
During a 17-day public hearing held March 21 to April 8, 2011 in Courtice, Ontario, the JRP received and considered submissions from OPG and 264 interveners, as well as 14 government departments, including the CNSC.
“This decision is an important milestone in Canada’s nuclear history,” said Alan Graham, chair of the JRP.
The JRP said it is satisfied that the licensee meets the requirements of section 24 of the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, that OPG is qualified to carry out the activities that will be permitted under the license, and that the health and safety of people and the environment will be protected."

The Most Polite Strikers Ever and Nuclear Energy in Canada

A good read: http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.ca/2012/08/the-most-polite-strikers-ever-and.html

Only 2 per cent of Canadians don’t believe in climate change

good for Canadians! knowledge is power, admitting a problem is the first step to solving it! Only 2 per cent of Canadians don’t believe in climate change: poll http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/only-2-per-cent-of-canadians-dont-believe-in-climate-change-poll/article4482183/ ..."“Our survey indicates that Canadians from coast to coast overwhelmingly believe climate change is real and is occurring, at least in part due to human activity,” said centre CEO Carmen Dybwad.
Respondents were asked where they stood on the issue of climate change.
Almost one-third – 32 per cent – said they believe climate change is happening because of human activity, while 54 per cent said they believe it’s because of human activity and partially due to natural climate variation. Nine per cent believe climate change is occurring due to natural climate variation."

Candu strike is leading to brain drain, union warns

Candu strike is leading to brain drain, union warns: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/candu-strike-is-leading-to-brain-drain-union-warns/article4483047/ ..."SNC-Lavalin Group is mired in a lengthy strike with unionized engineers and scientists at its Candu Energy unit that is raising concerns about a brain drain at the company and its ability to provide service to Canada’s nuclear-power operators.

The battle is part of the restructuring at the Candu division of former Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which SNC purchased from Ottawa for $15-million last year. The federal government had grown frustrated by AECL’s constant cost overruns which were backstopped by taxpayers, and SNC made it clear it intended to force more commercial discipline on the former Crown corporation." ... "The “anecdotal evidence” of the loss of senior engineers and scientists worries Candu customers like Duncan Hawthorne, chief executive officer at Bruce Power which is restarting two reactors after a lengthy and much-delayed refurbishment.
“There definitely has to be some level of concern” about the labour dispute, Mr Hawthorne said in an interview Wednesday. “These people are the heart and soul of the Candu design, and to the extent some of that is lost, it could hurt the industry.”
The country’s nuclear power stations don’t depend on Candu Energy for routine operations and maintenance, but Mr. Hawthorne says its expertise can be critical for specific problems or in a major retooling. A spokesman at Ontario Power Generation – which owns nuclear stations at Pickering and Darlington – said its operations are unaffected by the strike.
SPEA vice-president Mike Ivanco, who works as a scientist at Candu Energy, said SNC-Lavalin let go about 100 people after formally taking over in October, but then had to hire most of them back. Since then, some 70 senior engineers and scientists have left, he said."

the story on reuters: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/15/canada-nuclear-strike-idINL2E8JF7HE20120815


more on brain drain: http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/business/archives/2012/08/20120815-194529.html 

Clean energy ‘mega-trend’ sweeping globe, Canadian economy left vulnerable, Harper government told in briefings

Clean energy ‘mega-trend’ sweeping globe, Canadian economy left vulnerable, Harper government told in briefings: http://www.canada.com/technology/Clean+energy+mega+trend+sweeping+globe+Canadian+economy+left+vulnerable+Harper+government+told/7043569/story.html ..."A dependence on fossil fuel resources is making the country vulnerable to a planetary “mega trend” toward low-carbon energy that “will affect the whole of Canada’s economy,” Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver was told in newly released internal briefing notes.
“While Canada has an enviable energy resource advantage, its future success cannot be taken for granted,” said the briefing notes. “It must make smart decisions now in order to get ahead of emerging challenges. The country will need to further diversify its energy sources, ensure that it has secure access to global markets and find ways to meet the growing demand for energy at home in ways that are environmentally sustainable and publicly acceptable.”
Noting that Canada was last among G8 nations in terms of clean energy investments, the briefing notes prepared by bureaucrats at Natural Resources Canada for Oliver after he was appointed to cabinet in May 2011, explained that the growth of emerging economies such as China and India was one “mega trend” influencing the economy and demand for resources and energy.
But the documents also suggested that other countries were getting ahead of Canada in a new market, estimated to be worth $6.5 trillion in 2007-2008, for green products and services aimed at lowering carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.
“Over the medium term, the world is being shaped by another mega trend — the beginning of a transition towards a lower-carbon economy,” said the briefing notes, marked secret but declassified for release to Postmedia News under access to information legislation. “While fossil fuels will remain a dominant source of global energy for decades to come, leading economies, including the US and China are making major investments to position themselves as low-carbon leaders.”"

Perhaps this is best timing for Canada to become substantially involved in next generation nuclear research and development such as small modular reactors and molten salt reactors: http://thoriummsr.com/2012/08/why-canada-should-look-at-lftr-or-dmsr/

The Panic Over Fukushima

a must read: The Panic Over Fukushima: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444772404577589270444059332.html ...physicist Richard Muller (University of California, Berkeley) write in WSJ that Japan's government overreacted to the Fukushima nuclear disaster evoking the natural radiation levels in Denver, Colorado, which are high enough to trigger the immediate evacuation of the city - at least if guidelines from the International Commission on Radiological Protection are strictly applied! and in case you are wondering Denver has lower-than average cancer mortality... "The tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011 was horrendous. Over 15,000 people were killed by the giant wave itself. The economic consequences of the reactor destruction were massive. The human consequences, in terms of death and evacuation, were also large. But the radiation deaths will likely be a number so small, compared with the tsunami deaths, that they should not be a central consideration in policy decisions.

The reactor at Fukushima wasn't designed to withstand a 9.0 earthquake or a 50-foot tsunami. Surrounding land was contaminated, and it will take years to recover. But it is remarkable how small the nuclear damage is compared with that of the earthquake and tsunami. The backup systems of the nuclear reactors in Japan (and in the U.S.) should be bolstered to make sure this never happens again. We should always learn from tragedy. But should the Fukushima accident be used as a reason for putting an end to nuclear power?
Nothing can be made absolutely safe. Must we design nuclear reactors to withstand everything imaginable? What about an asteroid or comet impact? Or a nuclear war? No, of course not; the damage from the asteroid or the war would far exceed the tiny added damage from the radioactivity released by a damaged nuclear power plant.
It is remarkable that so much attention has been given to the radioactive release from Fukushima, considering that the direct death and destruction from the tsunami was enormously greater. Perhaps the reason for the focus on the reactor meltdown is that it is a solvable problem; in contrast, there is no plausible way to protect Japan from 50-foot tsunamis. Do we order a permanent evacuation of the coast to 20 miles inland? Do we try to build a 50-foot-high sea wall all around the eastern coast, including Tokyo Bay?
Looking back more than a year after the event, it is clear that the Fukushima reactor complex, though nowhere close to state-of-the-art, was adequately designed to contain radiation. New reactors can be made even safer, of course, but the bottom line is that Fukushima passed the test.
The great tragedy of the Fukushima accident is that Japan shut down all its nuclear reactors. Even though officials have now turned two back on, the hardships and economic disruptions induced by this policy will be enormous and will dwarf any danger from the reactors themselves."

Isn't science always better than hysteria???

Latest from SPEA on Candu strike

Latest from SPEA on Candu strike: Striking Candu Energy Engineers and Scientists to Picket Bay Street: http://www.spea.ca/strike-update/265-august-9-2012-press-release-striking-candu-energy-engineers-and-scientists-to-picket-bay-street.html ..."The Society of Professional Engineers and Associates (SPEA) is holding an information picket this morning in front of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) to draw attention to SNC-Lavalin's disregard for employees and shareholders.
Financial experts agree that SNC-Lavalin is facing a "perfect storm": Financial scandal, labour disputes and the search for a CEO, all attributable to a corporate culture that needs fixing from top to bottom, said White. "We agree and they can start by settling our labour dispute so we can return to work to deliver the best nuclear technology and return value for shareholders."
"It is shocking how SNC-Lavalin has conducted itself since they acquired Candu Energy from the Federal Government," said Peter White, President of SPEA. "Candu Energy has been one of the few bright spots for SNC-Lavalin, which has been struggling with poor performance, leadership issues and assorted allegations of financial wrongdoing."
According to White, "Candu Energy has a bright future but current management doesn't appreciate the opportunities and refuses to deal with employees in a fair manner. This is resulting in staff leaving and creating lost opportunities. "Since the federal government announced the sale of the commercial division of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) to SNC-Lavalin in June of 2011, scientific and technical staff has been reduced by approximately 25%. "For a technology company that relies heavily on the skills of its workers this should concern shareholders,' said White."

AECL marks 60 years by opening its door to the public, first in 12 years

AECL marks 60 years by opening its door to the public, first in 12 years! http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/2012/08/12/aecl-marks-60-years ..."The birthplace of Canada's nuclear industry welcomed back the community Saturday to celebrate six decades as a crown corporation.
For the first time in 12 years, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited opened the doors of Chalk River Laboratories to the public presenting an opportunity for area resident to not only celebrate its storied past but gain insight into its future.
Despite overcast skies and the occasional rain shower, over 2,000 people attended the open house which presented an exhibition of 50 displays and lectures by professionals in the nuclear energy field.
Joined by dignitaries, Dr. Robert Walker, president and chief executive officer of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, formally thanked residents for supporting Renfrew County's second largest employer noting that the work they are engaged in here matters to Canadians.
"We've had a strong and deep history in nuclear technology in this country and this has been the birthplace," said Dr. Walker. "It continues. That was the past and we're building into the future."
While Chalk River Laboratories was forged out of necessity to develop the atomic bomb during the closing days of the Second World War, AECL was formally established as a crown corporation in 1952. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Nuclear Power Demonstration, the nation's inaugural nuclear powered reactor, generating electricity to the provincial grid for the first time. AECL also commemorates the CANDU reactor at Pickering going online thus producing more electricity than any nuclear power station in the world at that time."

Happy 110th birthday Paul Dirac

Happy 110th birthday Paul Dirac! He is one of the icons of modern physics and is perhaps best known for developing Dirac equation, a relativistic wave equation to describe the spin and magnetic properties of the electron, the foundation for modern condensed matter physics... The Nobel Prize in Physics 1933 was awarded jointly to Erwin Schrödinger and Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory" this is a great summary of Diracss legendary work and contribution in our understanding of universe: http://likelytool.com/paul_dirac.htm... this is the link to Nobel Prize website: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/dirac-bio.html ... and this is a famous quote by Dirac: "The fundamental laws necessary for the mathematical treatment of a large part of physics and the whole of chemistry are thus completely known, and the difficulty lies only in the fact that application of these laws leads to equations that are too complex to be solved."

A great biography book (THE STRANGEST MAN: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom. Basic Books, 2009) written by Graham Farmelo in 2009 is reviewed here: http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/dr-strange "In The Strangest Man, Graham Farmelo offers a highly readable and sympathetic biography of the taciturn British physicist who can be said, with little exaggeration, to have invented modern theoretical physics. The book is a real achievement, alternately gripping and illuminating, and the few flaws in the biographical integration are often due to the recalcitrance of the subject himself.
It would have been far easier to tackle only the physics, and surely that would have been enough. Dirac’s life spanned most of the 20th century, and he was at the core of its decisive scientific revolution: quantum mechanics. “At the core” is an understatement. As Farmelo sagaciously puts it,"In his heyday, between 1925 and 1933, he brought a uniquely clear vision to the development of a new branch of science: the book of nature often seemed to be open in front of him.""

 This is also the link to an interview with Graham Farmelo on NPR: "In a new biography, Graham Farmelo digs deep into the archives and personal papers of a little-known Nobel-winning physicist. Farmelo discusses The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom and his theory that Dirac may have been autistic." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113435529

 

Candu Inc expands deal with Chinese for development of alternative reactor fuels

Candu Inc expands deal with Chinese for development of alternative reactor fuels: http://

www.canadianbusiness.com/
article/93974--candu-expands-deal-with-chinese-for-development-of-alternative-reactor-fuels ..."Candu Energy Inc. (TSX:SNC) said Thursday it has signed an expanded agreement with China National Nuclear Corp.'s subsidiary companies to continue work on using recycled uranium and thorium as alternative fuels for new reactors.
The company said the 24-month agreement is expected to result in a detailed conceptual design of an advanced fuel Candu reactor.
The deal follows a successful demonstration at Candu reactors at the Qinshan site, about 150 kilometres southwest of Shanghai.
The tests demonstrated the feasibility of using natural uranium equivalent fuel, composed of recycled uranium and depleted uranium, the company said."

And this is the story on G&M: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/candu-pursues-new-reactor-sales-in-china/article4459225/?service=mobile

Innovations in Strongly Correlated Electronic Systems: School and Workshop

This is great! you could watch videos of every talk presented at the ICTPS's 2012 Innovations in Strongly Correlated Electronic Systems: School and Workshop http://www.ictp.tv/eya/smr2357.php "Automatic video recording of the School and Workshop (with synchronized slides) using the ICTP EyA System. All talks are automatically recorded hourly and published." you can also check the blog of the meeting which is being written during the presentations and includes the Q&A of each talk, great job by organizers: http://innovationssces2012.blogspot.it/

Curiosity's successfully lands

Curiosity's successful lands: http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/bolden/posts/post_1344232802884.html ... "Curiosity, the largest rover ever sent to another planet, is in place and ready to work. This robotic laboratory will seek answers to one of humanity’s oldest questions as it investigates whether conditions have favored development of microbial life on the Red Planet." also see: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/what-happens-after-curiosity-lands-on-mars-11380765

here are some of the first images of Mars sent by Curiosity: http://www.space.com/16936-mars-rover-curiosity-first-landing-photos.html

Nuclear powered Mars Rover Curiosity

Ever wondered how nuclear powered Mars Rover Curiosity was built, this is a good video: http://ansnuclearcafe.org/2012/08/03/ans-nuclear-matinee-mars-rover-curiosity-a-nuclear-powered-mobile-laboratory/ "Early on Monday morning (1:31AM Eastern Daylight Time), after having traveled 352 million miles, NASA’s robotic rover Curiosity is scheduled to touch down inside the Gale Crater on the surface of Mars. Soon after, it will begin looking for clues about possible early forms of Martian life.
The Curiosity rover carries much more scientific equipment than previous Mars rovers. How to run so much heavy, power-intensive scientific research equipment for a mobile laboratory on another planet? Nuclear power!"

Neutron scattering explains how myoglobin can perform without water

Neat, another evidence of the unique power of neutron scattering in helping research in diverse areas of science, this time in biology: Neutron scattering explains how myoglobin can perform without water: http://phys.org/news/2012-08-neutron-myoglobin.html "Proteins do not need to be surrounded by water to carry out their vital biological functions, according to scientists from the Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS) in Grenoble, the University of Bristol, the Australian National University, the Institut Laue Langevin and the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science.
In a new paper, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the team used a state-of-the-art neutron scattering technique to demonstrate that when myoglobin, an oxygen-binding protein found in the muscle tissue of vertebrates, is enclosed in a sheath of surfactant molecules, it moves in the same way as when it is surrounded by water. These motions are essential if a protein is to perform its biological function, and their findings make proteins a viable material for use in new wound dressings or even as chemical gas sensors. Water is the natural environment for soluble proteins and an integral part of their structures which allows them to carry out their specific function. It had been perceived for many years that proteins required water or another solvent in order to function. But in 2010, the Bristol team proved that by grafting polymer chains onto the protein surface, it was possible to produce solvent- and water-free myoglobin liquids that could still perform their biological roles. Scientists have now demonstrated that protein dynamics is the reason why."

Nuclear arguably the world's most powerful clean energy technology and it's on the rise

Nuclear arguably the world's most powerful clean energy technology and it's on the rise: http://theenergycollective.com/breakthroughinstitut/98406/worldwide-nuclear-energy-expansion-continues ..."Global production of nuclear energy is expected to grow significantly in future years, despite setbacks in Japan and Germany, as China and the United States eyes next-generation reactors.
Worldwide nuclear electricity generating capacity is expected to increase between 44 percent and 99 percent by 2035, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency said in their joint biannual report on uranium resources, released this week.
Japan's decision to shut down all but two of its nuclear reactors in the wake of the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi last year played in to Germany's decision to phase out nuclear by 2022, but has apparently not slowed plans in other parts of Asia. Nuclear energy will see the sharpest expansion in China, India, and South Korea, the agencies said in a release, as well as in Russia."