Nuclear energy

Scott Anderson, a researcher at the Idaho National Laboratory's Irradiated Materials Characterization Lab, works with materials in a "glovebox" as part of the lab's research into how exposure to radiation alters reactor components. The lab's research is aimed at understanding how materials and fuels respond to radiation, which is crucial data as licenses for existing nuclear reactors are extended. (Robert Zullo/ States Newsroom)

With decarbonization, advocates see a bright future for nuclear after decades of dormancy

BY: - April 24, 2023

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — At the sprawling array of laboratories and test facilities in the southeastern Idaho desert where the U.S. nuclear power industry was born more than 70 years ago, past, present and future are converging. Not far from where the first reactor to ever produce usable electricity made history in 1951, Idaho National […]

A sign displays the names of the state's three elected public utilities commissioners outside of their Pierre office in January 2023. (South Dakota Searchlight/Joshua Haiar)

NorthWestern Energy considers building a nuclear plant in South Dakota

BY: - February 28, 2023

An energy company is looking into the possibility of building a small nuclear plant in South Dakota. The company, NorthWestern Energy, is targeting a potential construction date in 2030. The plant would produce between 80 and 320 megawatts. Conventional, large nuclear reactors can produce over 700 megawatts.  “A decision has not been made whether or […]

COMMENTARY
(Xuanyu Han/Getty Images)

The energy gap nobody wants to tussle with

BY: - January 4, 2023

Many Western states have declared they will achieve all-renewable electrical goals in just two decades. Call me naïve, but haven’t energy experts predicted that wind, sun and other alternative energy sources aren’t up to the job?  Alice Jackson, former CEO of Xcel Energy’s Colorado operation, was blunt at a renewable energy conference in February 2020: […]

To create fusion ignition, the National Ignition Facility’s laser energy is converted into X-rays inside the hohlraum, which then compress a fuel capsule until it implodes, creating a high temperature, high pressure plasma. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

Scientists announce a fusion breakthrough with big implications for clean energy 

BY: - December 13, 2022

Scientists at a U.S. national laboratory announced Tuesday that they achieved fusion ignition, a breakthrough decades in the making that could have major implications for clean energy.  Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco said that on Dec. 5, for the first time anywhere in the world, they managed to produce more […]