Nuclear power and reactors

A new system to monitor radiation damage in a material creates acoustic oscillations by using two pulsed laser beams aimed at a sample, in such a way that the light waves of the two beams cause an interference pattern. This interference pattern causes heating at the sample surface, generating a standing acoustic wave. The motion of the surface caused by this wave can be monitored by another set of...

Measuring radiation damage on the fly

Technique could continuously assess aging of materials in a high-radiation environment, in real-time.

December 13, 2016

Still from "Furusato" by director Thorsten Trimpop

Thorsten Trimpop wins Golden Dove grand prize at Leipzig Festival

CMS/W lecturer and Open Doc Lab fellow wins prestigious documentary filmmaking prize for "Furusato," chronicling effects of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

December 9, 2016

“As a child I would throw a ball through the air and wonder why it made a curved shape; I would hold an ice cube in my hand and wonder at the processes that made it melt. And it turned out there are physical models for all those things and you can explain them somehow with math. That was just really beautiful for me,” says MIT graduate student Libby Tolman.

Fusing theory and practice

Grad student Libby Tolman melds the elegance of theoretical physics with practical applications of nuclear science.

November 14, 2016

This desalination plant in Israel, called Sorek, is currently the world's largest, producing 625,000 cubic meters of fresh water per day. Boris Liberman, chief technology officer of IDE Technologies, the company that built this and several other huge desalination plants in Israel and California, was among the speakers at MIT's Low Carbon Desalination Workshop, which explored the potential for redu...

How to achieve “green” desalination

Workshop explores ways to reduce or eliminate the carbon footprint of seawater desalination plants.

October 19, 2016

The interior of the fusion experiment Alcator C-Mod at MIT recently broke the plasma pressure record for a magnetic fusion device. The interior of the donut-shaped device confines plasma hotter than the interior of the sun, using high magnetic fields. Postdoc Ted Golfinopoulos, shown here, is performing maintenance between plasma campaigns.

New record for fusion

Alcator C-Mod tokamak nuclear fusion reactor sets world record on final day of operation.

October 14, 2016

Alex Tingly (right), a graduate student in the Department of Physics, and senior research scientist Earl Marmar, head of the Alcator C-Mod project since 2002, review data on synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons in plasma.

High-intensity fusion

MIT’s Alcator C-Mod nuclear reactor winds down — and defines its legacy on its final run.

October 14, 2016

“Science was always second-nature to me since I was a kid. I spent a lot of time just tinkering around, breaking stuff apart and building it back up,” says Benoit Forget, associate professor in MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Benoit Forget: Unraveling complexities of nuclear reactors

By making detailed simulations of reactor cores, the MIT engineer is helping to advance new designs.

October 3, 2016

MIT Energy Initiative researchers are making technological progress across the low-carbon energy spectrum.

Addressing climate change with Low-Carbon Energy Centers

New interdisciplinary centers will advance clean technology in key areas.

July 28, 2016

MIT nuclear science and engineering professors Jacopo Buongiorno (left) and Dennis Whyte will lead a multidisciplinary team working on a Future of Nuclear Energy Technologies study.

Buongiorno, Whyte win Sloan Foundation grant

$1M Sloan Foundation grant supports NSE-led Future of Nuclear Energy Technologies study

July 13, 2016

“When I started in graduate school I knew already that I wanted to work on turbulence in tokamaks,” says Anne White, the Cecil and Ida Green Associate Professor in Nuclear Engineering in MIT’s Plasma Fusion and Science Center.

Anne White: A passion for plasma

Physicist has a fascination for the complexities of turbulence, and how to reduce it in fusion reactors.

June 29, 2016

Cody Dennett, PhD candidate in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering

Scrutinizing radiation’s impact

Nuclear science and engineering PhD student Cody Dennett simulates conditions inside reactors to measure microscopic defects in irradiated materials.

May 31, 2016

Ted Golfinopoulos (left), a postdoc with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, invites visitors to the USA Science and Engineering Festival to feel how insulated copper coil gets warm when electrical current runs through it, in a demonstration about magnetism and electricity.

Fusion outreach ignites in spring

Plasma Science and Fusion Center education team excites the public about MIT energy research.

May 11, 2016

“I love the positive environmental impact of nuclear engineering. ... With the effects of climate change increasingly apparent, we need young people to contribute and help us move forward.” —Carolyn Coyle, PhD candidate in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering

Carolyn Coyle: Engineering CRUD for better nuclear reactors

In an effort to improve reactor safety and efficiency, new research aims to bring corrosive particle buildup out of the shadows.

April 29, 2016

An artist’s rendering of nuclear fuel rods in front of a colorful computational valley predicted for alloying compositions.

How to make metal alloys that stand up to hydrogen

New approach to preventing embrittlement could be useful in nuclear reactors.

March 29, 2016

Shown here is guest speaker Ernest Moniz (right), with Robert Armstrong, director of the MIT Energy Initiative.

“Big meets small” at annual MIT Energy Conference

Speakers describe energy solutions at varying scales, and need for further progress.

March 8, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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