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Inside JET's torus, with superimposed plasma. (UKAEA) Late last century, the Joint European Torus (JET) near Oxford, UK, churned out 22 megajoules of energy in what was, at the time, a record in fusion power. Now, experimental upgrades have brought the facility into line with the technology anticipated for a major international project, resulting in the production of nearly three times that amount of power. The advances are a major step forward for tokamak-based fusion, bringing us ever closer to a balance point where we can harvest a near endless stream of energy without the cost of polluting emissions or...

The extent to which solar activity...varies can be reconstructed using various methods — at least for a certain period of time. Since 1610, for example, there have been reliable records of sunspots covering the Sun; the distribution of radioactive varieties of carbon and beryllium in tree rings and ice cores allows us to draw conclusions about the level of solar activity over the past 9000 years. For this period of time, scientists find regularly recurring fluctuations of comparable strength as during recent decades. A comprehensive catalog containing the rotation periods of thousands of stars has been available only for the...

The researchers combined magnetic readings and radioisotope dating of samples from seven lava flow sequences to recreate the magnetic field over a span of about 70,000 years centered on the latest geomagnetic reversal. They accurately dated the lava flows by measuring the argon produced from radioactive decay of potassium in the rocks. They found that the final reversal was quick by geological standards, less than 4,000 years. But it was preceded by an extended period of instability that included two excursions — temporary, partial reversals — stretching back another 18,000 years. The lava flow data was corroborated by magnetic readings...

You already know that water can have three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. But scientists at the Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) have discovered that when it's put under extreme pressure in small spaces, the life-giving liquid can exhibit a strange fourth state known as tunneling. The water under question was found in super-small six-sided channels in the mineral beryl, which forms the basis for the gems aquamarine and emerald. The channels measure only about five atoms across and function basically as cages that can each trap one water molecule. What the researchers found was that in this...

The Polonium Diversion At least a dozen people have been contaminated by the rare radioactive isotope Polonium 210. The list includes Alexander Litvinenko, the ex-Lieutenant Colonel in the KGB who died from a dose of Polonium 210 in London on November 23rd; Andrei Lugovoi, a former colleague of Litvinenko in the KGB, who met with Litvinenko at the Pine bar of the Millennium Hotel in London the day he became ill, November 1st; Dmitry Lugovoi, Lugovoi’s business associate, who also attended that November 1st meetings; 7 employees of the Millennium Hotel; Mario Scaramella, an Italian security consultant, who dined with...

Agency says radioactive materials recovered in home of man allegedly slain by his wife ...BELFAST, Maine — James G. Cummings, who police say was shot to death by his wife two months ago, allegedly had a cache of radioactive materials in his home suitable for building a “dirty bomb.” According to an FBI field intelligence report from the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center posted online by WikiLeaks, an organization that posts leaked documents, an investigation into the case revealed that radioactive materials were removed from Cummings’ home after his shooting death on Dec. 9 It says that four 1-gallon...

Georgian [the country south of Russia, not the US state ] customs officers sent a car carrying a mixture of plutonium and beryllium back into Azerbaijan after foiling an attempt to smuggle the materials over the border, Georgian television reported. Customs officials found the materials, which can be used in nuclear bombs, in what appeared to be a routine check as the car was driven over the border from Azerbaijan, the Imedi television station reported.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has declared a "nuclear emergency" over the radioactive material reported missing from Nigeria this week. The agency says that they are viewing it as a "stretegic theft," which is to say that the material was taken with nefarious purposes in mind. Baer reports that this very likely means dirty bombs.

Feb. 25, 2003 Nigeria reports unexplained loss of nuclear material Nigeria has asked the global nuclear agency's help tracking down radioactive material that it says disappeared from the West African nation's oil industry. "We have ... informed the International Atomic Energy Agency in case somebody stole it and wants to take it outside Nigeria," Shams Elegba, head of Nigeria's nuclear regulatory body, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Elegba gave no further details of the missing material or the circumstances behind its loss. But he said his agency was working hard to recover it, and had asked the global energy...