Tootfinder

Nuclear power has no special virtues that could possibly justify overpaying for energy like this. Instead of asking—as so many do—how to make nuclear cheaper and faster after decades of real-world proof that it’s nigh-impossible to do (outside of China), we should be asking—as virtually no one does—why anyone even wants to build them.
My best guess:

[Episode #237] – Why Nuclear? | The Energy Transition Show
What are the specific industrial sectors and processes that produce greenhouse gas emissions, and how can we decarbonize them?

»The removal of the first of four steam generators from the reactor building has begun at the shutdown Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant in Germany.«
https://world-nuclear-news.org/articles/steam-generator-removal-begins-at-german-plant

Steam generator removal begins at German plant
The removal of the first of four steam generators from the reactor building has begun at the shutdown Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant in Germany.  ;

The battery is often the first thing to fail with electronic medical implants, so... https://spectrum.ieee.org/nuclear-battery-revival IEEE Spectrum: The unlikely revival of nuclear batteries.

Nuclear Batteries: Energy Storage for Decades
Nuclear batteries that last decades are being developed to power drones, sensors, remote devices and medical implants. Energy storage at its extreme.

When the UK's new nuclear power plant Hinkley Point C starts to produce power in 2030, its guaranteed 'strike price' will have risen to ~150 £/MWh (170 €/MWh). Average wholesale electricity prices will probably be around half of that, so that's a 50% subsidy.
At an annual production of 25 million MWh (3.2 GW in baseload), I'd say that's £1.9 billion per year in subsidies.

Wereldwijde stagnatie van #kernenergie houdt aan, terwijl hernieuwbare elektriciteit (wind & zon) blijft groeien https://reneweconomy.com.au/another-miserable-year-for-nuclear-power-as-renewables-surge/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=another-miserable-year-for-nuclear-power-as-renewables-surge

IAEA brokers temporary ceasefire at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to repair power lines: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/28/iaea-brokers-temporary-ceasefire-at.html

I explained something for a friend in a simple way, and I think it's worth paraphrasing again here.
You cannot create a system that constrains itself. Any constraint on a system must be external to the system, or that constraint can be ignored or removed. That's just how systems work. Every constitution for every country claims to do this impossible thing, a thing proven is impossible almost 100 years ago now. Gödel's loophole has been known to exist since 1947.
Every constitution in the world, every "separation of powers" and set of "checks and balances," attempts to do something which is categorically impossible. Every government is always, at best, a few steps away from authoritarianism. From this, we would then expect that governments trand towards authoritarianism. Which, of course, is what we see historically.
Constraints on power are a formality, because no real controls can possibly exist. So then democratic processes become sort of collective classifiers that try to select only people who won't plunge the country into a dictatorship. Again, because this claim of restrictions on powers is a lie (willful or ignorant, a lie reguardless) that classifier has to be correct 100% of the time (even assuming a best case scenario). That's statistically unlikely.
So as long as you have a system of concentrated power, you will have the worst people attracted to it, and you will inevitably have that power fall into the hands of one of the worst possible person.
Fortunately, there is an alternative. The alternative is to not centralize power. In the security world we try to design systems that assume compromise and minimize impact, rather than just assuming that we will be right 100% of the time. If you build systems that maximially distribute power, then you minimize the impact of one horrible person.
Now, I didn't mention this because we're both already under enough stress, but...
Almost 90% of the nuclear weapons deployed around the world are in the hands of ghoulish dictators. Only two of the countries with nuclear weapons not straight up authoritarian, but they're not far off. We're one crashout away from steralizing the surface of the Earth with nuclear hellfire. Maybe countries shouldn't exist, and *definitely* multiple thousands of nuclear weapons shouldn't exist and shouldn't all be wired together to launch as soon as one of these assholes goes a bit too far sideways.

South Africa considers site near African penguin colony for third nuclear power plant https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2025/12/south-africa-considers-site-near-african-penguin-colony-for-third-nuclear-pow…

South Africa considers site near African penguin colony for third nuclear power plant
South African state electricity company Eskom is reevaluating two sites to host the country’s third nuclear power plant, having previously dismissed both for an earlier facility. The two potential sites are Thyspunt, on the Eastern Cape coast, and Bantamsklip, near Dyer Island in the Western Cape, home to a significant, but declining colony of critically […]

A return to nuclear power is at the heart of Japan’s energy policy
-- but, in the wake of the 2011 disaster,
residents’ fears about tsunamis, earthquakes and evacuation plans remain
Activity around the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant is reaching its peak:
workers remove earth to expand the width of a main road,
while lorries arrive at its heavily guarded entrance.
When all seven of its reactors are working, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa generates 8.2 gigawatt…

❤️‍🩹 Self-healing nuclear fuel could improve safety, reduce waste in reactors
#energy …

Self-healing nuclear fuel could improve safety, reduce waste in reactors
Nuclear power is among the cleanest energy sources on Earth, but the materials that fuel it can degrade during operation. A new international study may unlock safer, longer-lasting fuel for the next generation of reactors.

"...detailed how the company would use AI to speed up licensing. In [Microsoft’s] conception, existing nuclear licensing documents and data about nuclear sites data would be used to train an LLM that’s then used to generate documents to speed up the process."
JESUS MOTHERFUCKING CHRIST
https://www.404media.co/power-companies-are-using-ai-to-build-nuclear-power-plants/

Seeing the discussion, I’d like to clarify:
This post is not a statement on #nuclear energy. I was responding to the specific article that I shared, where @… reported that tech companies are “using AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants.”
My point is - cutting corners and trying to “speed up” the construction or operation of nuclear power plants can have CATASTROPHIC effects.
Chernobyl was a disaster of mismanagement, cost cutting, and insufficient safety procedures.
I do not trust AI, a technology that is notoriously probabilistic and inconsistent in outputs (and with famously high error rates) to be reliable and competent for a use case where the risks are this high.
I also do not support the mindset of wanting to “speed up” ANY regulatory processes and safety checks when it comes to constructing nuclear power infrastructure.
Licensing is not a “bottleneck” here. It’s a safety prerogative.
(Thanks @… for bringing this to my attention!)

Power Companies Are Using AI To Build Nuclear Power Plants https://www.404media.co/power-companies-are-using-ai-to-build-nuclear-power-plants/

A Russian strike could collapse the internal radiation shelter at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine,
the plant's director has told AFP.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20251223-russian-strike-could-col…

Russian strike could collapse Chernobyl shelter: plant director
A Russian strike could collapse the internal radiation shelter at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine, the plant's director has told AFP.

»Tech companies are betting big on nuclear energy to meet AIs massive power demands and they're using that AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants.«
What could possibly go wrong. Trust me, I'm an engineer. 🤦
Full story over at @…:

Power Companies Are Using AI To Build Nuclear Power Plants
Tech companies are betting big on nuclear energy to meet AIs massive power demands and they're using that AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants.

The US DOE will provide Constellation with a $1B loan to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant; the output will be sold to Microsoft under a 20-year deal (Costas Paris/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/t…

After #Trump finally crashes and burns (I'm still saying I don't think he makes it to the mid terms, and I think it's more than possible he won't make it to the end of the year) we'll hear a lot of people say, "the system worked!" Today people are already talking about "saving democracy" by fighting back. This will become a big rally cry to vote (for Democrats, specifically), and the complete failure of the system will be held up as the best evidence for even greater investment in it.
I just want to point out that American democracy gave nuclear weapons to a pedophile, who, before being elected was already a well known sexual predator, and who made the campaign promise to commit genocide. He then preceded to commit genocide. And like, I don't care that he's "only" kidnaped and disappeared a few thousand brown people. That's still genocide. Even if you don't kill every member of a targeted group, any attempt to do so is still "committing genocide." Trump said he would commit genocide, then he hired all the "let's go do a race war" guys he could find and *paid* them to go do a race war. And, even now as this deranged monster is crashing out, he is still authorized to use the world's largest nuclear arsenal.
He committed genocide during his first term when his administration separated migrant parents and children, then adopted those children out to other parents. That's technically genocide. The point was to destroy the very people been sending right wing terror squads after.
There was a peaceful hand over of power to a known Russian asset *twice*, and the second time he'd already committed *at least one* act of genocide *and* destroyed cultural heritage sites (oh yeah, he also destroyed indigenous grave sites, in case you forgot, during his first term).
All of this was allowed because the system is set up to protect exactly these types of people, because *exactly* these types of people are *the entire power structure*.
Going back to that system means going back to exactly the system that gave nuclear weapons to a pedophile *TWICE*.
I'm already seeing the attempts to pull people back, the congratulations as we enter the final phase, the belief that getting Trump out will let us all get back to normal. Normal. The normal that lead here in the first place. I can already see the brunch reservations being made. When Trump is over, we will be told we won. We will be told that it's time to go back to sleep.
When they tell you everything worked, everything is better, that we can stop because we won, tell them "fuck you! Never again means never again." Destroy every system that ever gave these people power, that ever protected them from consequences, that ever let them hide what they were doing.
These democrats funded a genocide abroad and laid the groundwork for genocide at home. They protected these predators, for years. The whole power structure is guilty. As these files implicate so many powerful people, they're trying to shove everything back in the box. After all the suffering, after we've finally made it clear that we are the once with the power, only now they're willing to sacrifice Trump to calm us all down.
No, that's a good start but it can't be the end.
Winning can't be enough to quench that rage. Keep it burning. When this is over, let victory fan that anger until every institution that made this possible lies in ashes. Burn it all down and salt the earth. Taking down Trump is a great start, but it's not time to give up until this isn't possible again.
#USPol

Meta signs nuclear energy deals to power Prometheus AI supercluster
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/09/meta-signs-nuclear-energy-deals-to-power-prometheus-ai-supercluster.html

So I grew up next to #Chernobyl and this is, well, TERRIFYING.
A story for y’all: I’m from a city called Zhytomyr, 2 hours west of Kyiv in the North of #Ukraine. We were downwind of the Chernobyl #nuclear power plant when the 1986 disaster happened.
I wasn’t born for another 12 years, but my childhood was filled with stories and the aftermath of it all. Things like:
- My grandmother worked as a head doctor in a hospital and rehabilitation facility exclusively for children of Chernobyl victims to treat the extremely high prevalence of Tuberculosis and other severe health complications. (To specify: these were SECOND GENERATION of exposure).
- A lot of the kids in that facility were orphans, because their parents died young from health problems.
- My uncle’s wife was born in Pripyat. She was 1 year old when the disaster happened. Her parents were told to evacuate while given no information about what happened. They had to pack up their things and rush out to an unfamiliar city with their baby, never to see the rest of their belongings, apartment, or hometown again.
- When I was a kid, it became so common to see weirdly mutated animals and insects that even 2-3 year olds would make jokes about “Chernobyl mosquitos” and I wouldn’t even flinch seeing occasional giant bugs, dark frogs, weird-looking dogs.
- We’d frequently hear of nearby farms having issues with their animals being born too mutated to survive or random outbreaks from contaminated water / food. Crops would randomly fail. People would get poisoned on a regular basis. This all got less common as I grew up.
- My mother still remembers being a little girl, 10 years old, and looking outside from their balcony at the clouds blowing over from Chernobyl that day. People were told to not go outside and to shut all the windows, but not given an explanation as to why. My mother swears that the rain looked different. They weren’t able to go and buy more food for the kitchen for multiple days.
Anyway - nuclear safety isn’t a joke. I don’t understand how this level of carelessness can happen after Chernobyl and Fukushima.

https://www.404media.co/power-companies-are-using-ai-to-build-nuclear-power-plants/

Russia may target nuclear plant substations to cut power and force Ukraine’s capitulation, Ukrainian intelligence warns: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/17/russia-may-target-nuclear-plant.html

WTF. From Matt Gault for @… :
https://www.404media.co/nuclear-rian-bahran-iaea-international-symposium-on-art…

‘Atoms for Algorithms:’ The Trump Administration’s Top Nuclear Scientists Think AI Can Replace Humans in Power Plants
A presentation at the International Atomic Energy Agency unveiled Big Tech’s vision of an AI and nuclear fueled future.

Considering that the US currently lacks the capability to safely land payloads on the moon, the timeline seems rather aggressive.
NASA, Department of Energy To Develop Lunar Surface Reactor By 2030 - Slashdot https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/

Meta Is Making a Big Bet on Nuclear With Oklo
Meta will finance Oklo’s purchase of uranium for its reactors. It’s a massive vote of confidence for both the startup and nuclear power, but challenges remain
h…

Meta Is Making a Big Bet on Nuclear With Oklo
Meta will finance Oklo’s purchase of uranium for its reactors. It’s a massive vote of confidence for both the startup and nuclear power, but challenges remain.

What could go wrong?
Trump Media to Merge With TAE Technologies, a Nuclear Fusion Firm, in a $6 Billion Deal - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/business/trump-media-tae-technologies-fusion-power-deal.html

Meta strikes a 20-year deal to buy 2,600 MW of nuclear power from Vistra, and announces deals to back new reactor projects from TerraPower and Oklo (Jennifer Hiller/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta-unveils-sweeping-…

The Economist: Geothermal energy’s massive leap forward
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JeTAeF3Ft6E
From video's description: "Could geothermal soon overtake nuclear power? Vijay Vaitheeswaran, our Global energy & climate innovation editor and winner of the Energy Write…

☢️Russia attacks substations near nuclear power plants – a nuclear threat to Europe! #shorts: https://benborges.xyz/2025/11/09/russia-attacks-substations-near-nuclear.html

Ukraine Update: The "Peace Plan" includes impossible and contrary mandates, including the governance of nuclear power.
Detailed analysis you wont find in US media, because it doesn't glorify Trump or fascism.
Share the friend link to bypass the paywall, and let the world know the truth of what is happening in Ukraine:

Ukrainian minister implicated in nuclear power corruption scandal suspended: https://benborges.xyz/2025/11/12/ukrainian-minister-implicated-in-nuclear.html

Heute vor 11 Jahren: Am 15 Dezember 2014 erschienen die ersten Leaks des Hacks von Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co (#KHNP) – dem Betreiber der 23 kommerziellen Kernreaktoren Südkoreas: Mitarbeiterlisten, Handbücher sowie Einzelheiten zu den Klima- und Kühlsystemen der Reaktoren.

Few know the lengths to which the Trump administration is paving the way -- and the part it's playing
-- in deregulating a highly regulated industry
to ensure that AI data centers have the energy they need to shape the future of America and the world
To say the nuclear people are bullish on AI is an understatement.
“I call this not just a partnership but a structural alliance.
Atoms for algorithms. Artificial intelligence is not just powered by nuclear ene…

‘Atoms for Algorithms:’ The Trump Administration’s Top Nuclear Scientists Think AI Can Replace Humans in Power Plants
A presentation at the International Atomic Energy Agency unveiled Big Tech’s vision of an AI and nuclear fueled future.

‘Atoms for Algorithms:’ The Trump Administration’s Top Nuclear Scientists Think AI Can Replace Humans in Power Plants https://www.404media.co/nuclear-rian-bahran-iaea-international-symposium-on-artificial-intelligence/

Nuclear spin quenching of the $^2S_{1/2}\rightarrow {^2}F_{7/2} $ electric octupole transition in $^{173}$Yb$^ $
Jialiang Yu, Anand Prakash, Clara Zyskind, Ikbal A. Biswas, Rattakorn Kaewuam, Piyaphat Phoonthong, Tanja E. Mehlst\"aubler
https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.05872 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2512.05872 https://arxiv.org/html/2512.05872
arXiv:2512.05872v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: We report the coherent excitation of the highly forbidden $^2S_{1/2} \rightarrow {^2}F_{7/2}$ clock transition in the odd isotope $^{173}\mathrm{Yb}^ $ with nuclear spin $I = 5/2$, and reveal the hyperfine-state-dependent, nuclear spin induced quenching of this transition. The inferred lifetime of the $F_e = 4$ hyperfine state is one order of magnitude shorter than the unperturbed ${^2}F_{7/2}$ clock state of $^{171}\mathrm{Yb}^ $. This reduced lifetime lowers the required optical power for coherent excitation of the clock transition, thereby reducing the AC Stark shift caused by the clock laser. Using a 3-ion Coulomb crystal, we experimentally demonstrate an approximately 20-fold suppression of the AC Stark shift, a critical improvement for the scalability of future multi-ion $\mathrm{Yb}^ $ clocks. Furthermore, we report the $|^2S_{1/2},F_g=3\rangle~\rightarrow~|^2F_{7/2},F_e=6\rangle$ unquenched reference transition frequency as $642.11917656354(43)$ THz, along with the measured hyperfine splitting and calculated quadratic Zeeman sensitivities of the ${^2}F_{7/2}$ clock state. Our results pave the way toward multi-ion optical clocks and quantum computers based on $^{173}\mathrm{Yb}^ $.
toXiv_bot_toot

Russia mercilessly strikes nuclear power plants: a new wave of missile attacks hits Ukraine: https://benborges.xyz/2025/10/31/russia-mercilessly-strikes-nuclear-power.html

🚀 AI's Energy Crisis?
#AI is exploding, but scaling compute with more data & power is too slow and costly—data centers are building nuclear plants! We need smarter ways to turn energy into intelligence.
🧠 Nature-Inspired Innovation At #Extropic rethinks hardware: Probabilistic computers using thermodynamic principles for massive efficiency. Core: "Pits" (probabilistic bits) that flicker between states for sampling probabilities.
🧵 👇

Ukraine's nuclear safety still at risk even after Zaporizhzhia plant connected to backup power: https://benborges.xyz/2025/11/09/ukraines-nuclear-safety-still-at.html

⚓ Research on Integrated Modularization of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide System for Aircraft Carrier Nuclear Power
#energy

On Thursday, the California Coastal Commission voted to approve a permit allowing the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, perched above Avila Beach of San Luis Obispo County,
to continue operating through at least 2030.
The controversial decision was conditioned on Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the plant’s operator, agreeing to permanently conserve 4,000 acres of surrounding land from commercial or residential development.
The decision carries powerful consequences for the…

Diablo Canyon Clears Hurdle to Stay Open Until at Least 2030
The California Coastal Commission approves permit allowing state’s last nuclear power plant to continue operating past its 2025 shutdown deadline.

Now we see why Trump wants AI companies to thrive. There's every chance that AI companies are motivated and committed to "funding" this fusion company.
Just one more stop in the AI "investment circle jerk".
#corruption #nuclear #energy #fusion #business #finance

A look at Fermi, a startup co-founded by ex-US Energy Secretary Rick Perry that aims to build one of the world's largest datacenter campuses in Texas by 2038 (Jennifer Hiller/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/bus…

Ukraine war latest: Russian attacks kill 5 across Ukraine; Moscow seeks to disconnect Ukraine's nuclear power: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/18/ukraine-war-latest-russian-attacks.html

🗜️ A Review of the Research and Development of Brayton Cycle Technology in Nuclear Power Applications with a Focus on Compressor Technology
#energy

Russia seeks to disconnect Ukraine's nuclear power plants, HUR says, risking potential meltdown: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/17/russia-seeks-to-disconnect-ukraines.html

Ukraine and Russia agree to IAEA-brokered ceasefire at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/17/ukraine-and-russia-agree-to.html

3 drones reportedly spotted flying over Belgian nuclear power plant: https://benborges.xyz/2025/11/10/drones-reportedly-spotted-flying-over.html

Tehran says Russia will build eight new nuclear power plants in Iran: https://benborges.xyz/2025/11/02/tehran-says-russia-will-build.html

Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant across the salt marsh from Hampton Beach, NH
#photo #photography #newhampshire #nh