Author: Fission Today

In May 1985, Greenpeace took on a mission unlike anything they had done before – to mass relocate the people of Rongelap atoll in the Marshall Islands, whose ancestral home was no longer safe as a result of the US government’s nuclear testing in the region. About 350 people were relocated, including livestock and 100 metric tons of building material, to Mejatto, another island about 180 km away. This is the story behind “Operation Exodus” – one Rainbow Warrior boat and an island community, versus a huge colonial power who discredited the act as “manipulation” for Greenpeace’s anti-nuclear agenda. As…

By 2050, Switzerland anticipates a significant expansion of solar photovoltaics (PV) and increased electrification of heating and mobility, coinciding with the aimed phase-out of nuclear power plants. This transition, however, introduces a seasonal imbalance: solar PV generates the most electricity in summer, while power demand peaks in winter, particularly for heating.Power-to-gas technology offers one possible solution to this imbalance by converting surplus renewable energy into hydrogen or methane. These electricity-based gases (e-gases) can be produced domestically or imported and have two key applications: they can decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors (e.g., industry and heavy-duty transport) or be burned in gas-to-power  (i.e., hydrogen…

When Zoe Fisher was in fourth grade, her art teacher asked her to draw her vision of a dream job on paper. At the time, those goals changed like the flavor of the week in an ice cream shop — “zookeeper” featured prominently for a while — but Zoe immediately knew what she wanted to put down: a mad scientist.When Fisher stumbled upon the drawing in her parents’ Chicago home recently, it felt serendipitous because, by all measures, she has realized that childhood dream. The second-year doctoral student at MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) is studying materials…

Holtec Submits License Application to NRC for the Palisades Twin SMR-300s Palisades Reactor Restart Delayed to 2026 Illinois Gov Pritzker Signs Bill Removing State’s Ban on New Nuclear Power Plants Two New Reports from the Nuclear Innovation Alliance Rep. Simpson Secures INL Priorities in Energy and Water Appropriations Bill Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Siemens, Nvidia To Develop Fusion Digital Twin Chinese Tokamak Achieves Progress in High-density Plasma Operation Fusion Industry Association Reviews 2025 Events Holtec Submits License Application to NRC for the Palisades Twin SMR-300s Holtec International announced it submitted its first major licensing application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission…

As the previous post discussed here, the City of Berkeley was granted until 5/31/23 to file a petition for rehearing en banc to the full 9th Circuit. Yesterday, the City of Berkeley filed its Petition for Rehearing En Banc. This sets in motion a period for the 9th Circuit to review and grant or deny rehearing that can range from 21 days to more than 150 days depending on procedural action. To grant rehearing, a majority of the 29 sitting 9th Circuit Judges must vote for rehearing. If granted, the three judge panel opinion issued on 4/17/ 23 is rescinded…

Going to the moon was one thing; going to Mars will be quite another. The distance alone is intimidating. While the moon is 238,855 miles away, the distance to Mars is between 33 million and 249 million miles. The propulsion systems that got us to the moon just won’t work.Taylor Hampson, a master’s student in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), is well aware of the problem. It’s one of the many reasons he’s excited about his NASA-sponsored research into nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP).The technique uses nuclear energy to heat a propellant, like hydrogen, to an extremely high…

A new poll in Scotland shows that voters are against giving taxpayers money to arms manufacturers. This is despite a concerted propaganda push by the UK government criticising the Scottish Government’s restrictions on funds under its control going to arms for Israel. The poll by Find Out Now showed 44% of Scottish voters opposed public money going to arms companies, around 26% supported the idea, while around 31% said they didn’t know. The poll was commissioned in the light of the Scottish Government relaxing its total ban to allow funds for arming Ukraine which wasn’t enough to satisfy UK ministers,…

Statehouse Happenings This Week: Cheers to another great week in the legislature! This week brought advocates to Topeka to join Zack Pistora on conversations about community resiliency. Our final pre-WEALTH event will be Wed/Thur of this week with Rabbi Moti Rieber on the hot topic of the session: WATER! Last week both the Senate and the House heard ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) bills. The Senate version is extreme and would cost the state KPERS system more than $3 billion dollars. The House version is more carefully tailored and would not impose any mandates on businesses nor restrict their independent decision-making.…

Nuclear physicist and MIT Professor Emeritus Lee Grodzins died on March 6 at his home in the Maplewood Senior Living Community at Weston, Massachusetts. He was 98.   Grodzins was a pioneer in nuclear physics research. He was perhaps best known for the highly influential experiment determining the helicity of the neutrino, which led to a key understanding of what’s known as the weak interaction. He was also the founder of Niton Corp. and the nonprofit Cornerstones of Science, and was a co-founder of the Union of Concerned Scientists.He retired in 1999 after serving as an MIT physics faculty member for 40 years. As a member of the Laboratory for Nuclear…

Ushering In the Age of 1A Impunity: Venezuela, Palestine, and the End of International Law. The UN’s human rights rapporteurs are under a sustained campaign of slander and sanction. And even the UN Security Council has surrendered to the U.S. empire, as evidenced by its resolution 2803 in November of 2025, endorsing the wholly unlawful and baldly colonial plans of the Trump administration for Gaza.  the hand of the Israeli regime in supporting right-wing forces and destabilizing progressive governments in the region is by now well known. Israeli weapons, surveillance technology,  intelligence, training, and influence via Israel proxies in the region have been a…