1. CONFU technology highlighted in Chemistry & Industry article
"Other scientists are investigating
ways to adapt the current generation
of reactors to utilise spent fuel. One
such scientist is Mujid Kazimi, who is
the director of the US Massachusetts
Institute of Technology’s Center for
Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems.
Together with colleagues, he has developed
the Combined Non-Fertile and
Uranium (CONFU) fuel assembly. This
involves replacing 20% of the uranium
oxide fuel pins used in water-cooled
reactors with fertile free fuel, which
contains all the higher actinide elements,
including plutonium, produced
in nuclear reactors." Read more>>
2. Innovative projects aim to boost safety, efficiency of nuclear power
"...In a nuclear power plant, the fission of uranium atoms provides heat to produce steam for generating electricity. While nuclear plants are already energy intensive --one pickup-truck full of uranium fuel can supply enough electricity to run a city for a year--Hejzlar and Mujid S. Kazimi, the TEPCO Professor of Nuclear Engineering, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, wanted to make the fuel go even further." Read more>>
3. "Licensing Renewed: New rules for nuclear reactors"
Mechanical Engineering (cover story) (10/07)
"...There are now dozens of applications being submitted and approved for 20-year license renewals for established nuclear power plants. But before the nuclear power industry truly can be said to be reborn, new reactors must be constructed. While the NRC has replaced the old licensing process with a new, presumably streamlined procedure, the new regulations haven't been fully tested. As the industry moves toward the first new orders for reactors since the 1970s, the licensing process has proved to be more difficult than anyone expected. Thousands of engineering and NRC staff hours have been poured into the effort." Read more>>
4. "Nanotech + nuclear = more electricity"
MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) (10/07)
"...MIT researchers have a recipe for getting 20 percent more electricity out of today’s nuclear power plants. The key ingredient: a sprinkling of tiny particles added to the water that takes heat from the hot nuclear fuel to the power-generating equipment.." Read more>>
