Entries Tagged 'Nuclear' ↓

Found a post on Your Daily Awesome with some truly incredible pictures of a French nuclear test.

The pictures are from a group of tests done in the 1970. The French military conducted over 200 nuclear tests in French Polynesia starting in 1966 and continuing until 1996.

Photos From French Nuclear Test, 1970

Picture courtesy of Martin Trolle

Found this great Flickr set of an abandoned Soviet missile silo in Latvia. With the recent news about US missile silos for sale, I thought this was a bit interesting.

Check out the entire set
at Flickr: Soviet Nuclear Missile Silo

It seems that James Chadwick, the discoverer of the neutron, sent detailed plans for building a nuclear reactor to the royal archives for safekeeping in 1940. Those plans were lost, and have remained sealed until recently when they were opened to mark the 75th anniversary of the discovery of the neutron. James sent them to royal archives because he felt that it would be irresponsible to publish them during WW2. There they remained until their rediscovery during a cataloging effort currently underway.
The most interesting thing about this news, is that the first nuclear reactor was built in 1951. A full 11 years after the work done by James in the UK. Makes you wonder what might have happened if his work hadn’t been lost.

Check out the story at BBC News: Nuclear reactor secrets revealed

Found this story about a High School senior that created nuclear fusion in his home. it seems that he bought all the parts needed from his local Home Depot and Ebay. This is actually a bit scary. Just think, your neighbor might be building a fusion reactor in his basement next door.
Check out the story here