Nick Touran

youtube.comFabrication of SNAP-7D Fuel SourcesYouTube video by What is Nuclear?

Fabrication of SNAP-7D Fuel Sources www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQap...

youtube.comNuclear Reactors For Space (1961)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

21 Sept

Nuclear Reactors for Space (1961) www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYvu...

youtube.comResearch into Controlled Fusion (1958)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

20 Sept

I believe this is the world's earliest nuclear fusion documentary, produced in 1958. Available now online! www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxqh...

9 Aug

Serious question to people who are protesting data centers: how would you feel if they were operated offshore? ⚛️Powered with sustainable nuclear ⛲Cooled with abundant seawater 🏠Not in anyone's backyard 🧑‍🔧Built in shipyards reindustrializing America 🇺🇸 Allows us to stay competitive internationally

youtu.beResearch Reactors U.S.A. (1958)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

24 July

Great film: Research Reactors U.S.A (1958) Fun to see the University of Michigan Ford Nuclear Reactor in some detail at the beginning. Thanks to the IAEA for digitizing and DOE for letting me publish it. youtu.be/3BJyBohKeD4?...

What does "going critical" mean? If you shoot a neutron into some uranium ore, some atoms will split by fission, but you haven't made a nuclear reactor. Too many secondary neutrons leak out or get absorbed without splitting neighboring atoms. 1/n

Of course, high-power critical for long periods of time is the hardest of all for these reasons. Powering a city of 1 million people requires splitting of about 100 quintillion atoms per second (100 billion billion).

I'm absolutely thrilled that multiple new reactors will be going low and high power critical in the coming ~month.

Low-power critical is a huge milestone, especially after decades of institutional morass.

High-power critical is harder because you're splitting atoms faster. You must endure proportionally higher radiation fields, substantial thermal gradients, and you generate more radioactive byproducts, so the safety and decommissioning issues increase.

Once you do enough of this, you can remove your neutron source and the reactor will keep on splitting atoms in steady state. Huge congrats: it's now critical!

You can run a reactor in a low-power critical state, with just a few billion fissions occurring per second, or you can pull the control rods for longer, go supercritical for a while, get the reaction rate way up, and then insert the rods again to go back to a higher-power critical steady state.

You have to put fuel atoms close together (spatially and often with enrichment), remove impurities that gobble neutrons, and often include a special neutron moderator material that substantially improves the neutron economy.

youtube.comEngineering Test Reactor (1958)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

27 May

The Engineering Test Reactor (ETR) was constructed in 1957 at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. It was a 175 MWt reactor that absolutely hammered fuels and materials with high flux neutrons, fine-tuning the high-performance nuclear technology we use today www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_b3...

20 May

This Combustion Engineering facility in Chattanooga, TN fabricated 57 reactor pressure vessels for US reactors, plus more overseas, and lots of other heavy equipment. As the nuclear industry ramps back up in the US, I hope we see lots more facilities like this soon.

youtube.comAtomic Revolution in Wood (1969)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

16 May

If you pull a vacuum on wood, then impregnate it with a monomer, and then irradiate it with gamma rays, you get a wood-plastic composite that is extremely tough while looking great. If it gets scuffed, you just buff it out, the finish goes all the way through. www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9sQ...

16 May

This is a 1969 AEC film describing the material, commercial applications, and the production process. (Title: "Atomic Revolution in Wood", AVN0481, Digitized by the IAEA's Lise Meitner Library. AVN0481) 📽️⚛️

youtube.comIndustrial Applications of Nuclear Explosives (1958)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

2 May

Industrial Applications of Nuclear Explosives (1958) That's one way to make a new harbor! www.youtube.com/watch?v=py9e...

breakthroughjournal.orgTwo New Papers Are Wrong About Cancer Risk from Nuclear PlantsPoor Research Design and Strong Claims Don’t Mesh Well

2 Mar

Those new studies linking nuclear plant proximity to cancer use very weak scientific methods. No dose assessment, no control group. It's shameful that they passed peer review. Takedown here: www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/two-new-pa...

ans.orgNS Savannah soon open to the public

14 Feb

Visiting the Nuclear Ship Savannah in person is worth traveling to Baltimore for, especially since they recently opened up the reactor vessel. Saturday, February 21st. www.ans.org/news/2026-02... @americannuclear.bsky.social

wsj.comExclusive | A Nuclear-Power Startup Says It Can Rouse the Slow-Moving IndustryAlva Energy has the support of former Intel chief Pat Gelsinger, whose venture firm led its recent $33 million fundraising round.

14 Feb

This has to be the fastest way to add 10 GW of new nuclear capacity in the US (uprating existing reactors!) www.wsj.com/business/ene...?

Nick Touran reposted

Michael McLean

@michaelmclean.me

9 Feb

ICYMI: @whatisnuclear.com digitized this 1967 film about the BONUS reactor, in Puerto Rico. Superheated steam from a boiling water reactor! whatisnuclear.com/news/2023-09...

Nick Touran reposted

Jessica Lovering

@lovering.bsky.social

30 Jan

Have you ever wondered if small nuclear reactors could possibly beat out the economies of scale from large reactors? Check out my latest report @theniaorg.bsky.social “Right-Sizing Reactors: Balancing trade-offs between economies of scale and volume” tinyurl.com/bdhz27wt

27 Jan

The classic mouse trap and ping pong ball demo, from Martin Marietta. Only problem is that the mouse traps flying around set off other mouse traps, dramatically increasing keff. They should have glued them to the bottom. (VHS quality because, well, it was on VHS)

whatisnuclear.comWhat are Microreactors?Definition, history, opportunities, and challenges of micro nuclear reactors

24 Jan

I made a new 'microreactors' page. Benefits: 1. Novel power markets 2. Manufactured product 3. Within reach of VC 4. Fewer radionuclides Challenges: 1. Economies of scale 2. Tyranny of neutron diffusion 3. Shielding whatisnuclear.com/microreactor...

24 Jan

Micros are ideal for rapid iteration of advanced reactors, and may be the best pathway to find new starting points to scale up from. I have a slight scold in there for people who assert that their microreactors will compete in commodity power markets rather than novel ones. Did I miss any?

youtube.comThe Enrichment of Uranium (1980s)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

22 Jan

Presenting: A 1980s film describing uranium enrichment using gaseous diffusion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5gN...

youtube.comManaging Radioactive Wastes At The Nevada Test Site (1980)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

22 Jan

🍿⚛️ Today we have: "Managing Radioactive Waste At the Nevada Test Site", a 1980 film from DOE, freshly scanned off of U-matic video cassette kindly provided to me by Prof. Ron Knief. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Jd...

youtube.comSun of Man (1988)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

19 Jan

Check out the state of nuclear fusion research as it stood in 1988 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuss...

youtube.comInside America’s $3T Nuclear Bet (HALEU)YouTube video by AtomicBlender

19 Jan

It's not that advanced reactors aren't and can never be economical (that's crazy), but they haven't been economical so far (for very specific reasons) and have a steep hill to climb to achieve viability. As always, the only way to climb it is to build build build. www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2JL...

youtube.comNuclear Waste Canisters Being Hit with Trucks/Trains and burned in jet fuel (Accident Testing, 1980)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

18 Jan

Those were the highlights. Here's the full 12-mins in documentary form www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LVq...

Nick Touran@whatisnuclear.com

Nuclear waste transport cask testing... with Red Alert music

17 Jan

Nuclear waste transport cask testing... with Red Alert music

youtu.beSplitting Atoms – An Electrifying Experience (1996)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

16 Jan

90s kids explain nuclear energy. youtu.be/6Cwkk2mMM64?...

16 Jan

At the end the girl says to check out "The Harnessed Atom" at the Dept of Energy. It's a teacher's lesson guide for nuclear lessons with tons of cool activities. www.energy.gov/ne/articles/...

12 Jan

Flash animations from the 2006 version of whatisnuclear dot com, made by yours truly. "This is what they stole from us" 😂

Nick Touran reposted

Michael McLean

@michaelmclean.me

8 Jan

Neat site that explains the value of clean firm resources like nuclear, hydro, and geothermal in a highly decarbonized grid nathandiyer.github.io/clean-energy...

7 Jan

The Beetle, everyone's favorite actually-real mecha, inside and out. It was designed to do maintenance in the highly radioactive areas around nuclear-powered long-range bomber aircraft back in the nuclear-powered flight days.

7 Jan

I'm currently getting these historical nuclear films digitized. Standby! As far as I can tell, none of them exist online yet except the Accident Testing one, which shows the Sandia cask tests. I'm getting that one scanned with hopes that it'll be extra high quality for everyone's pleasure.

youtube.comNuclear-powered Ramjet Cruise Missile: LASV-N1 (Progress Report 1963)YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

26 Oct 2025

Yesterday, Russia announced that its new nuclear-powered cruise missile flew for 15 hours straight. The US had such a thing in development in the 1950s (see film), but it looks like the Russians have finally gotten one operational. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qMu...

12 Oct 2025

Here's what neutron chain reaction dynamics kinda look like. The green bar is control rod position and the trace shows reactor power, starting at 1. After each control adjustment, there is a 'prompt jump' followed by a longer exponential tail from delayed neutrons.

11 Oct 2025

Man! I was at a workshop in my home state of Michigan on Thursday and we were brainstorming ideas to bring more nuclear power industry to the state. I mentioned that the Upper Peninsula has pretty good geology for a long-term nuclear waste repository (reducing environment, precambrian rock)....

11 Oct 2025

Everyone absolutely freaked out. I know NIMBY is a thing, but it's good for us to be reminded of how visceral it is from time to time, even in totally pro-nuclear crowds.

2 Oct 2025

Can't reply on the post for some reason... but after 3 years of shutdown it does not take that much cooling to keep the spent fuel cooled. Something like a garden hose of water going in should suffice. I'm not super worried about it.

umpft.bsky.social@umpft.bsky.social

@whatisnuclear.com @energybants.bsky.social What are the chances for a meltdown after years of cooling? Thanks!

1 Oct 2025

Taking a Geiger counter on a flight with the sound on is a great way to get some serious side-eye from your neighbors, maybe leading to a good discussion about dose rate

23 Sept 2025

It's a true miracle of nature that water is both a good neutron moderator and reactor coolant. Its ability to moderate and cool at the same time is quite underappreciated in today's pro-nuclear circles.

youtube.comBORAX: Construction and Operation of a Boiling Water Power ReactorYouTube video by What is Nuclear?

21 Sept 2025

The first Boiling Water Reactor experiments (BORAX) www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLlK...

30 Aug 2025

Pretty neat model of a PWR from the 1965 Boy Scouts Atomic Energy merit badge book. Honestly, building this would help kids understand quite a bit about a reactor.

18 Aug 2025

Looking into the core of BORAX-5, which pushed the limits of what a BWR could do: nuclear superheat and natural circulation. The superheat region is in the center. BWRs today are not so bold as to superheat steam. Have materials improved enough to try again? Probably!