Nuclear

For the daring tippler, scientists from the University of Portsmouth have distilled an artisan "radioactive-free" vodka, branded Atomik, made from ingredients from the Exclusion Zone around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor site.

​A radioactive cloud spread over Europe in late 2017. Despite official denials, all the evidence pointed to Russia. A new study tracking over 1,000 atmospheric measurements suggests an unreported nuclear accident did likely occur at the Mayak facility in the Southern Ural mountains of Russia.

NASA has given the green light to begin placing the plutonium-238 dioxide fuel into the nuclear Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) on the Mars 2020 robotic rover that will provide it with heat and electricity.

Nuclear fusion could be an essentially unlimited energy source, but large eruptions in the plasma can damage reactors. But now physicists have found a way to prevent those large eruptions, by triggering lots of small ones through the injection of tiny pellets of beryllium.

Nobody wants to get near nuclear waste, so a team of engineers is developing a new semi-autonomous robotic system to help dismantle decommissioned reactors. The two-armed mobile robot can identify, grasp, and cut objects like pipes without the operator having to control every movement.

Researchers from ETH Zurich have refined a process that can detect modern fakes of paintings by measuring excessive levels of the isotope carbon-14 released into the atmosphere through nuclear testing in the 20th century.

The Three Mile Island nuclear power station in Pennsylvania is scheduled to close in September according its owner, Exelon Generation. The site of the worst nuclear disaster in US history, the still functioning TMI-1 reactor will be deactivated on September 30, 2019.

Tokamak reactors and fusion stellarators are a couple of the experimental devices used in pursuit of nuclear fusion, but scientists at the University of Washington are taking a far less-frequented route known as a Z-pinch, with the early signs pointing to a cheaper and more efficient path forward. ​

To help power American's deep space probes, The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has automated key steps in the process to make plutonium-238 (PU-238) nuclear fuel for radiothermal generators (RTG).

The US Air Force has completed testing of its new face mask for helicopter and other rotary aircraft crews. The Joint Service Aircrew Mask – Rotary Wing (JSAM-RW) mask is one of five variants that will replace a whole range of masks worn by military aircrews.

For decommissioning a nuclear site, researchers at the University of Bristol are proposing an Iron Man-like armored exoskeleton that would protect workers from radioactive contamination, while also reducing fatigue and providing vital information through helmet-mounted AR displays.

Scientists working on the cutting edge Wendelstein 7-X nuclear fusion reactor are reporting the experimental device has achieved its highest energy density and the longest plasma discharge times for device of this type, marking another step forward in the quest for clean fusion power. ​​