Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy’s Post

Can countries meet their potential for economic growth and energy security without nuclear power?     U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Dr. Mike Goff said “no” during his opening remarks at the second annual U.S. - Africa Nuclear Energy Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.     This year’s event focuses on industry readiness and building workforce capacity in the region to prepare for nuclear deployment across the continent.     During the summit, Ghana and U.S. firms reached a commercial agreement to deploy the country’s first advanced light-water small modular reactor plant.     Nuclear Power Ghana and Regnum Technology Group will work to deploy a NuScale Power VOYGR-12 small modular reactor plant in Ghana.     Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ge9TBqyX  

NEW: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) just released its latest U.S. Energy and Employment report. Nuclear jobs grew by more than 1,800 jobs over the previous year. Check out the biggest nuclear workforce trends here: https://lnkd.in/gYfjSDMb Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/d5H9KnEj  

JUST ADD SALT 🧂: Terrestrial Energy is developing this advanced reactor that uses molten salt as both a coolant and a fuel to provide high heat at lower pressures. The heat can be used directly at industrial facilities or for clean power generation using standard low-enriched uranium. Terrestrial Energy is one of two companies receiving GAIN - Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear vouchers to advance their technologies. They will partner with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to analyze the fuel salt used in its Integral Molten Salt Reactor to better understand how it changes in response to temperature during everyday operation. GAIN vouchers provide funding to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories to help businesses overcome critical technological and commercialization challenges. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4csAGex

NUCLEAR 101: The sodium-cooled fast reactor uses liquid metal (sodium) as a coolant instead of water that is typically used in U.S. commercial power plants. This allows the coolant to operate at higher temperatures and lower pressures than current reactors—improving the efficiency of the system. SFRs use fast moving neutrons that could allow them to operate on both fissile material and used fuel from current reactors to produce electricity.

More than 93% of the time, nuclear works ALL the time.

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Five winners will either win a trip to INL for the national Nuclear Science Week event, or a $500 scholarship!

NEWS: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) just announced its first ever SUPER rapid turnaround experiments to advance promising nuclear fuels and materials. Awardees will have up to a year to complete experiments using world-class testing capabilities provided through our Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) program. Check out all 13 projects here: https://lnkd.in/eN6QkUVG

10 intriguing facts you might not know about the world’s first controlled release of nuclear energy. ➡️ The world's first self-sustaining controlled nuclear chain reactor took place at the University of Chicago on December 2, 1942. ➡️ Chicago Pile-1 was the world’s first nuclear reactor to go critical. ➡️ 49 scientists led by Enrico Fermi, were present for the event. Leona Marshall was the lone female researcher. ➡️ The reactor was built with graphite blocks, some of which contained small disks of uranium. ➡️ Scientists monitored the reaction on instruments named after Winnie the Pooh characters—Piglet, Tigger and Pooh. ➡️ Scientist George Weil withdrew the cadmium-plated control rod unleashing the first controlled chain reaction. ➡️ The reactor had three sets of control rods. One was automatic and could be controlled from the balcony. Another was an emergency safety rod. The third rod (operated by Weil) actually held the reaction in check until it was withdrawn the proper distance. ➡️ The group celebrated with a bottle of Chianti that was poured into paper cups. Most of the participants signed the wine bottle’s label. This was the only written record of who had taken part in the experiment. ➡️ In the lead up to this experiment, a letter from Albert Einstein to President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped lead to the Manhattan Project—a government research project that produced the first atomic bombs. It was also the seed that grew into the modern U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory system. ➡️ The Energy Department’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is named in honor of Enrico Fermi for his contributions to nuclear physics and scientific success at nearby University of Chicago.