☢️ Nuclear vault reveals radioactive relic, world’s first nuclear space power generator, thinnest-ever robot tram

Operators at one of the world’s oldest and most inaccessible nuclear storage facilities were stunned to discover a 60-year-old radioactive vacuum cleaner after opening the site’s sealed nuclear vault, untouched since the 1970s.

The unexpected find, a vintage Electrolux once used to clean radioactive dust, was uncovered as teams at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria, England, began routinely retrieving waste from the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo.

Built at a time when long-term disposal planning was only starting to take shape, the silo became a repository for decades’ worth of radioactive material, much of it poorly recorded, in a structure never intended to be emptied. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

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☢️ Nuclear vault reveals radioactive relic: Vacuum cleaner from 1960s sealed in secrecy

After years of intense engineering effort, retrieval teams finally cracked the code to safely extract the waste stored in the silo’s six cavernous compartments.

According to the UK government, the teams have already removed enough radioactive material to fill 18 stainless-steel storage boxes, with some of the discoveries being complete surprises.

The 1960s household hoover was reportedly used to collect radioactive dust during the site’s operational life in the 1950s and 60s. Once it was no longer necessary, Sellafield’s original workforce had little choice but to consign it to the silo, alongside other contaminated industrial waste.

⚡️ NASA tests world’s first nuclear space power generator that runs on 5x cheaper fuel 

A team of scientists and engineers from the University of Leicester and NASA Glenn Research Center is developing a new nuclear power system for space.

Last year, the university signed an International Space Act Agreement with NASA allowing them to test their electrically-heated simulators of americium heat sources.

By combining these with power converter technologies from NASA Glenn, they aim to develop an innovative power system that could provide electricity to future space missions.

🤖 World’s thinnest robot tram climbs wires, moves like screw to carry tiny payloads

North Carolina State University engineers have unveiled a light-powered soft robot that rolls along aerial cables like a microscopic tram, lugging payloads more than a dozen times its mass and climbing slopes approaching vertical.

The bracelet-shaped machine—made from a single ribbon of twisted liquid-crystal elastomer—travels autonomously when a beam of infrared (IR) light is trained on the line, and has already conquered hair-thin threads, drinking-straw rails, and three-dimensional spirals.

The proof-of-concept, detailed this week in Advanced Science, hints at future inspection bots for power lines, airborne sensor networks, and cargo shuttles across hazardous terrain.

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