It's going to be at least another two decades before any commercial models are built, but researchers are at work designing the Generation IV nuclear reactors. Unlike the generation II and III models now in use that use water to cool and control the fission (preventing runaway reactions, subsequent meltdowns and the environmental apocalypse that would result), the leading contender for cooling material for the Gen IV reactors is molten sodium. Not sodium chloride (plain, unreactive table salt), but sodium metal.

More than 20 years after the disastrous meltdown, formal plans to encase and dismantle Chernobyl's nuclear reactor have begun. Announced yesterday by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, the project calls for a $1.4 billion steel covering to be constructed over the next five years. Currently, the reactor is surrounded by the dilapidated and ineffective concrete encasement erected shortly after the accident—the replacement will be built just a short distance away and then slid over the entire structure. Some 95 percent of the reactor's original nuclear material remains.—Abby Seiff

Via

BBC

See the bottom of the page for a video demonstration of Thiago Olson's homemade fusion reactor.

Build a Homemade Nuclear Reactor


Cost: $3,500

Time: 2
Years

Itching for a challenging science project, two years ago Thiago Olson decided to build a small nuclear reactor. He had limited funds, limited space in his garage, and little engineering know-how. After all, he was only 15.