MOX Battle: Mixed Oxide Nuclear Fuel Raises Safety Questions
Friday, March 25, 2011 - 16:00
in Physics & Chemistry
The nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power station in Japan that were crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami are a lot like reactors in the U.S. They are a common, if not exactly modern, General Electric design that harnesses nuclear fission to boil water and drive steam turbines to generate electricity. The same reactor designs and containment system are in use across the U.S., for instance at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens, Ala., and the Vermont Yankee facility in Vernon, Vt. [More]