Nuclear Power

The Westinghouse Atom Smasher in its prime.

The Strange Story of the Westinghouse Atom Smasher

The giant bulb was an important part of early American nuclear history. Now it’s part of a miniature railroad

Scores of lives were lost while building the 816 Nuclear Plant, a long-abandoned nuclear project now open to the public.

Tour the World’s Biggest Manmade Cave in China

The 816 Nuclear Plant stands as a reminder of a paranoid past

Checkpoint "Dityatki," an entrance to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Chernobyl Might Get a Second Life as a Solar Power Plant

From nuclear disaster to renewable energy

A view of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, with two reactors.

PG&E Announces Closure of California's Last Nuclear Power Plant

One of the most famous, but aging, nuclear power plants in the U.S. will soon see its end

The bombing site as seen from above.

During the Cold War, the Air Force Dropped an Unarmed Nuke on South Carolina

Amazingly, none of the Gregg family of Mars Bluff were seriously hurt, not even the cat

Builders work on the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement arch in April 2016. Once complete, the massive arch will be slid over the reactor's current concrete sarcophagus.

Thirty Years Later, a Gigantic Arch Is Set to Cover Chernobyl

The New Safe Confinement is one of history’s most ambitious engineering projects—and it comes not a moment too soon

A wild boar and her little squeakers explore in Duisburg Forest, Germany.

Radioactive Boars Rampage Around Fukushima

A boom in the wild boar population is causing problems for farmers near the site of the 2011 nuclear disaster

Technicians hard at work are dwarfed by the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator

A New Experimental Fusion Reactor Powers Up in Germany

The reactor's first test was brief but successful

The first hydrogen bomb was detonated by the United States in a test over the Marshall Islands in 1952.

What’s the Difference Between an A-Bomb and an H-Bomb?

Why North Korea’s alleged nuclear test is drawing skepticism and fear alike

An illustration of Enrico Fermi and other scientists observing the first artificial nuclear reactor.

The World's First Nuclear Reactor Was Built in a Squash Court

It sat right next to University of Chicago’s football field

The light from a Naval missile test off California

A Real Nuclear Apocalypse Would Be More Beautiful Than the World of 'Fallout 4'

It would also be much, much more devastating

Manhattan Project Sites to Be Opened to the Public

Manhattan Project Historical Park will preserve three sites from the beginning of the Atomic Age

Whisky Grains and Coffee Grounds Could Help Clean up Nuclear Waste

Distilleries could soon be helping save the environment as they bottle up their next batch of brown

A map of antineutrinos leaving Earth, where blue is less activity and red more

Here is a Map of Earth’s Antineutrinos

Antineutrinos are the antimatter siblings of the elusive particles called neutrinos and show up where radioactive materials decay

The crew of the Bockscar

The Nagasaki Bombing Almost Didn’t Happen

What really happened on the mission to drop the second atomic bomb

An aerial view of part of the Idaho National Laboratory.

Tour the World’s First Nuclear Power Plant

The historic site in a remote desert is now a museum where visitors can see the instruments that made nuclear history

This fasciated flower — a White Mule’s Ear, found in Island Park, Idaho — has the same disorder found in flowers near Fukushima

Don’t Freak Out Over the Funky Flowers That Appeared Near Fukushima

The odd appearance is due to a plant disorder called fasciation

The Eurasian tree sparrow is one of 30 bird species in decline around Fukushima.

Birds Are in a Tailspin Four Years After Fukushima

Like the proverbial canary in a coalmine, avian abundances may paint a grim picture of the effects of nuclear disasters on wildlife

Abandoned pool in Pripyat.

Haunting Drone Footage of Chernobyl Town

"Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl" shows a drone's-eye view of the city nearly three decades after nuclear disaster

For the time being, at least, the lands near the Grand Canyon will not be converted into something resembling this uranium mine in New Mexico.

The Grand Canyon Will Not Be Mined for Uranium

Uranium mining will be banned for the next 20 years on nearly 1 million acres of land near the Grand Canyon

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