Ph.D./P.E. nuclear engineer and nuclear educator who runs https://whatisnuclear.com. Thinks about how to deliver nuclear power reliably and cheaply, advanced reactors, reactor history, energy.https://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3msno3lu34s22Serious 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 internationally09 Aug 2026 13:14 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3msno3lu34s22https://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mrfdhsp2kc2uGreat 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. https://youtu.be/3BJyBohKeD4?si=2ates3wMMpVWGSQX24 Jul 2026 12:17 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrfdhsp2kc2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mmyh4eisqs2yWhat 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/n29 May 2026 11:37 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmyh4eisqs2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mmttw65xbc2lThe 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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_b3cnUFVhU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_b3cnUFVhU&feature=youtu.be27 May 2026 15:43 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmttw65xbc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mmar4ohars2lThis 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.20 May 2026 01:32 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmar4ohars2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mlyzt5ynms2cIf 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9sQbpRb4PM16 May 2026 23:47 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlyzt5ynms2chttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mkumkgryfs2lIndustrial Applications of Nuclear Explosives (1958) That's one way to make a new harbor! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py9efE8A1nM02 May 2026 12:13 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkumkgryfs2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mg3ucianqc2uThose 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: https://www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/two-new-papers-are-wrong-about-cancer02 Mar 2026 18:15 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mg3ucianqc2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3metjmfnurk2lVisiting the Nuclear Ship Savannah in person is worth traveling to Baltimore for, especially since they recently opened up the reactor vessel. Saturday, February 21st. https://www.ans.org/news/2026-02-12/article-7753/ns-isavannahi-soon-open-to-the-public/ @americannuclear.bsky.social14 Feb 2026 17:17 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3metjmfnurk2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3metiwg52mk2lThis has to be the fastest way to add 10 GW of new nuclear capacity in the US (uprating existing reactors!) https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/a-nuclear-power-startup-says-it-can-rouse-the-slow-moving-industry-c5418410?14 Feb 2026 17:04 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3metiwg52mk2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mdeolbgs4s2kThe 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)27 Jan 2026 02:10 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdeolbgs4s2khttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3md72ixyel227I 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 https://whatisnuclear.com/microreactors.html24 Jan 2026 20:28 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3md72ixyel227https://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mczjztrrh22wPresenting: A 1980s film describing uranium enrichment using gaseous diffusion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5gNxH1LcoI22 Jan 2026 15:50 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mczjztrrh22whttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mcy6h7xnns2d🍿⚛️ 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Jdr92Jga022 Jan 2026 02:50 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcy6h7xnns2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mcs3j766zk2cCheck out the state of nuclear fusion research as it stood in 1988 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WussAV3DKA419 Jan 2026 16:41 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcs3j766zk2chttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mcrqouztm22lIt'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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2JLbNDhoO419 Jan 2026 13:28 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcrqouztm22lhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mcpv6adevk2kThose were the highlights. Here's the full 12-mins in documentary form https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LVqkhpp0wQ [contains quote post or other embedded content]18 Jan 2026 19:43 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcpv6adevk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mcloeva4x22kNuclear waste transport cask testing... with Red Alert music17 Jan 2026 03:30 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcloeva4x22khttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mcjbwxora22b90s kids explain nuclear energy. https://youtu.be/6Cwkk2mMM64?si=9-8I1CyZXYgAUZEi16 Jan 2026 04:43 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcjbwxora22bhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mcagwcepak2cFlash animations from the 2006 version of whatisnuclear dot com, made by yours truly. "This is what they stole from us" 😂12 Jan 2026 16:18 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcagwcepak2chttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mbu5mdrhz22jThe 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.07 Jan 2026 18:59 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbu5mdrhz22jhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3mbsf5fbets2gI'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.07 Jan 2026 02:09 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbsf5fbets2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3m44fm7y4dk2eYesterday, 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qMuS5kaDBI26 Oct 2025 17:12 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3m44fm7y4dk2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3m2yuichmv224Here'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.12 Oct 2025 14:03 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2yuichmv224https://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3m2w3uqrfhs2zMan! 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 11:37 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2w3uqrfhs2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3m27l7vxn5k2nCan'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. [contains quote post or other embedded content]02 Oct 2025 12:40 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3m27l7vxn5k2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/whatisnuclear.com/post/3m25j5quqis2uTaking 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 rate01 Oct 2025 16:58 +0000at://did:plc:wcgqqell7etiqcdpzhucrtcd/app.bsky.feed.post/3m25j5quqis2u