☢️ US can almost double nuclear capacity at existing power plants, world’s strongest battery could extend EV range by 70%, Japan to build supercomputer 1000 times faster than world’s fastest machines

A new report by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) has found that the country can add a significant amount of nuclear power at the still-operating or recently retired nuclear power plants.

The ‘Evaluation of Nuclear Power Plant and Coal Power Plant Sites for New Nuclear Capacity’ report took into consideration all 54 operating and 11 recently retired nuclear power plant sites across 31 states. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

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☢️ US nuclear plants can double power, add 95GW capacity to existing structures: Report

During the assessment, factors such as the availability of adequate cooling water, proximity to large population centers or hazardous facilities, or unacceptable seismic or flood hazards were considered.

The preliminary findings of the report suggest that 41 operating and retired nuclear power plant sites can have more reactor installations.

The report found that over 60 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear capacity can be added to operating or recently retired nuclear power plant sites in the US. Moreover, if the smaller 600-megawatt electric advanced reactors can be made viable, they can lead to energy generation of 95 GW.

🔋 World’s strongest battery could extend EV range by 70%, make phones credit card-thin

The world’s strongest battery, developed by researchers at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, is paving the way for massless energy storage that could help build credit-card-thin mobile phones or even increase the range of electric vehicles by as much as 70 percent, a press release said.

The structural battery developed at Chalmers is made from composite material and uses carbon fibers for both positive and negative electrodes. In previous iterations of the battery, the core of the positive electrode was made from aluminum foil. On this occasion, the researchers coated the carbon fibers with lithium iron phosphate (LFP).

🖥️ Japan to build supercomputer 1000 times faster than world’s most powerful machines

Japan is set to break new ground in the world of computing by launching the construction of the first-ever “zeta-class” supercomputer next year. Expected to be fully operational by 2030, this supercomputer will be 1,000 times faster than today’s most powerful machines.

The cutting-edge project is expected to cost more than $750 million, marking Japan’s strategic move to stay ahead in the rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence (AI).

Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) unveiled plans for this supercomputer on August 28, signaling a significant leap forward in computational speed. The new machine is designed to operate at zetaFLOPS speeds—a scale of performance never before achieved.

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