Articles tagged as Nuclear Power | Smithsonian Magazine

What would the days, weeks, years after a nuclear explosion really look like? In 1983, Carl Sagan gave the public their first imagining.

When Carl Sagan Warned the World About Nuclear Winter

Before the official report came out, the popular scientist took to the presses to paint a dire picture of what nuclear war might look like

November 15, 2017

Marie and Pierre Curie in the laboratory.

Three Quirky Facts About Marie Curie

In honor of her 150th birthday, let’s review a few lesser-known pieces of her personal history

November 7, 2017

Underwater Robot Spots Possible Melted Nuclear Fuel in Fukushima Reactor

Identifying the location of the fuel is a vital step in the decontamination process

July 25, 2017

Robert Oppenheimer’s Career Ended Long After the Bang, With a Whimper

The rivalry between Edward Teller and Robert Oppenheimer ended both their careers

June 27, 2017

America's most famous nuclear power plant will close in 2019.

It’s been nearly 40 years since the nuclear power plant partially melted down

May 30, 2017

Leibstadt Nuclear Power Plant in Switzerland

The nation plans to decommission its five nuclear plants and invest in renewables

May 22, 2017

The Watts Bar Dam, one of the dams that is part of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Here’s How FDR Explained Making Electricity Public

“My friends, my policy is as radical as the Constitution of the United States,” he said

May 18, 2017

This photo shows the Berkeley 60-inch cyclotron, build in 1939. The year before, technetium-99 was discovered by Emilio Segrè and Glenn Seaborg using the facility's 37-inch cyclotron. Ernest Lawrence, the cyclotron's inventor, is standing, third from left.

Old Particle Accelerator Tech Might Be Just What the Doctor Ordered

Shortages of important supplies for nuclear medicine has researchers looking for answers on how to produce technetium-99

February 20, 2017

The hole in the grate below the pressure vessel in reactor 2, possibly caused by melted nuclear material

The latest measurements are over seven times the previously measured high—enough to fry a robot in two hours

February 6, 2017

Hyman G. Rickover created the U.S. Navy's nuclear program, but remained ambivalent about it throughout his life

Happy(?) Birthday to the Father of the Nuclear Navy

Hyman G. Rickover pushed to nuclearize the Navy’s submarines, but admitted he’d rather ‘sink them all’ to protect humanity

January 27, 2017

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

December 20, 2016

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

Cool Finds

Tour the World’s Biggest Manmade Cave in China

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

October 5, 2016

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

Future of Energy

Chernobyl Might Get a Second Life as a Solar Power Plant

From nuclear disaster to renewable energy

July 29, 2016

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

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

June 22, 2016

Cool Finds

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

May 12, 2016

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.

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

April 26, 2016

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

Weird Animals

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

April 12, 2016

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

The reactor’s first test was brief but successful

February 8, 2016

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

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

January 6, 2016

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

Cool Finds

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

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

November 25, 2015