Search Results

Sichuan Huadu Nuclear Energy Wins Control Rod Drive Mechanism Orders for 4 Nuclear Power Units

On August 24, news came from Sichuan Huadu Nuclear Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd., located in Dujiangyan, Chengdu, Sichuan, that the company has won the orders for control rod drive mechanisms for 4 units among the first batch of nuclear power units approved for construction during the 15th Five-Year Plan period in China, with a total new contract value of 504 million yuan. The winning projects include Units 3 and 4 of Zhejiang Jinqimen Nuclear Power Plant, as well as Units 1 and 2 of Phase I of Liaoning Zhuanghe Nuclear Power. According to the previous approval arrangement by the State Council Executive Meeting, the new batch of nuclear power projects involves a total of 4 projects and 8 units, including Phase II of Zhejiang Jinqimen Nuclear Power, Phase III of Guangdong Taipingling Nuclear Power, Phase I of Liaoning Zhuanghe Nuclear Power, and Phase I of Shandong Laiyang Nuclear Power, all adopting China's self-developed third-generation nuclear power technology...

2026-08-27

U.S. STREAMLINE Project Advances Nuclear Quantum Many-Body Research with Artificial Intelligence

On August 25, 2026, a new project named STREAMLINE is combining artificial intelligence, machine learning, and supercomputing to address the nuclear quantum many-body problem in nuclear physics research, aiming to more accurately simulate the interactions between protons and neutrons within atomic nuclei and provide theoretical support for frontier topics such as neutron stars and fundamental interactions. The difficulty of the nuclear quantum many-body problem lies in the fact that as the number of particles increases, the possible interactions among them grow rapidly, and traditional computational methods quickly hit the ceiling of computing power. Even with high-performance supercomputers, only quantum systems of relatively limited scale can typically be handled. The STREAMLINE project hopes to...

2026-08-26

Lancaster University in the UK receives EPSRC funding to study antimatter production in intense laser pulses

Christopher Arran, a lecturer at Lancaster University and the Cockcroft Institute in the UK, has recently been awarded a three-year New Investigator Award from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to study electron-positron pair production in the extremely intense electromagnetic fields of high-power lasers. The research focuses on matter-antimatter production processes under intense laser pulse conditions. Similar interactions are believed to exist in extreme cosmic environments, such as near pulsars and black hole accretion disks. Previously, such interactions had only been measured at large particle accelerator facilities such as Stanford University and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), but the electric and magnetic field strengths used in those experiments were far weaker than the strong-field conditions achievable with current high-power lasers.

2026-08-26

Rare Germanium Isotope Infrared Spectral Signatures Elucidated in Detail for the First Time

The press service of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science reported on August 25 that scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University, in collaboration with an international research team, have for the first time conducted a detailed study of the infrared spectra of two rare germanium isotopes and identified characteristic spectral signatures that can be used to recognize the relevant isotopes in complex gas mixtures. The research team selected two highly enriched isotopes—germanium-72 and germanium-73—as the subjects of the study, recording their spectral information using a high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer. This instrument is capable of resolving closely spaced spectral lines, providing the conditions for analyzing subtle spectral changes induced by isotopic substitution. The researchers stated that precise spectral data for different germanium isotopes remain relatively scarce in the scientific literature, and such data are of significant importance for identifying molecules in planetary atmospheres and for producing ultra-pure germanium isotopes for quantum technologies and modern electronics.

2026-08-26

U.S. Department of Energy Extends Princeton University Contract to Operate PPPL

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Princeton University have extended the contract under which Princeton University manages and operates the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The laboratory is located on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, New Jersey. Under the new extension, the contract will be renewed for five years starting April 1, 2027. Princeton University expects to strengthen collaboration with faculty and research teams on campus during the contract period, explore next-generation fusion energy research facilities, and enhance laboratory infrastructure and safety to support ongoing operational needs. Princeton University's office for research affairs...

2026-08-25

Ketterle Team: "Neutrino Laser" Based on Quantum-Entangled Atomic Clouds Theoretically Infeasible

Nobel laureate Wolfgang Ketterle and his team have conducted a theoretical examination of a neutrino laser concept and concluded that the scheme is fundamentally difficult to realize. The research findings have been published in *Physical Review Letters*. The concept was previously proposed by American physicists, with the core idea being the use of rubidium-87 atomic clouds or other unstable isotopes, placing them into specific quantum states to generate highly directional neutrino beams. According to the concept, if a neutrino source analogous to a laser could be constructed, it would help accelerate neutrino mass measurements and advance observational studies of the interconversion phenomena among different types of neutrinos. The Ketterle team's key focus this time was whether a large number of atoms could cooperatively emit neutrinos and other fermions, similar to the synchronized release of photons in a conventional laser.

2026-08-25

Large-area pixel detector independently developed by the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences completes long-term online operation validation

Recently, the 6-megapixel large-area two-dimensional pixel array detector independently developed by the detector R&D team of the High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) at the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, completed long-term online operation validation. Since its deployment for trial operation at the HEPS Biological Macromolecular Microcrystal Diffraction Beamline in October 2025, it has supported nearly 90 research projects from over 50 research groups as of June 30, 2026. During the trial operation period, the detector accumulated more than 2,000 hours of operation with stable, uninterrupted performance. The beamline and detector teams conducted joint commissioning and optimization, verifying its operational stability and data reliability under complex working conditions. Leveraging the high-quality data collected by this detector, some...

2026-08-24

Russian Scientists Propose New Scheme for Measuring Proton and Deuteron Electric Dipole Moments in a Single Storage Ring

August 21 news, researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, and the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences have proposed a new experimental scheme to study the electric dipole moments of protons and deuterons in a single storage ring. The scheme can be implemented both in specially constructed new facilities and, potentially, in upgraded existing accelerator complexes. The electric dipole moments of protons and deuterons reflect the asymmetry of the internal charge distribution relative to the spin direction. According to Standard Model predictions, their values are non-zero but extremely small, on the order of 10⁻³¹ e·cm, far below current experimental sensitivity...

2026-08-24

CERN Large Hadron Collider Data Challenge Models of Oxygen and Neon Nucleus Structure

Physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), analyzing a new batch of collision data from the CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, have found that oxygen and neon nuclei do not behave entirely as predicted by existing models in high-energy collisions. This result indicates that the scientific community's understanding of the shapes and internal structures of certain light nuclei still requires further refinement. In high-energy nuclear collisions, a quark-gluon plasma is briefly formed in the collision region. This state of matter decays rapidly, but the collective flow characteristics of its particles can be used to infer the collision geometry and indirectly provide information about nuclear structure. Researchers believe that symmetric collisions of light ions help better control the initial collision conditions, making them suitable for studying collective responses in small systems.

2026-08-24

Progress in Tritium Containment and Radiation Protection Materials Research at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Recently, Associate Researcher Huo Zhipeng of the Fusion Reactor Blanket and Safety Research Center at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with his supervised master's students Zhang Jie and Chen Zuoyang, developed a class of flexible PbWO4-B4C reinforced silicone rubber composites with dual functions of tritium safety containment and nuclear radiation protection. The related research results were published in Journal of Materials Research and Technology. Future fusion facilities require comprehensive performance from radiation protection materials in tritium safety containment systems, including airtight sealing, flexibility for easy assembly and disassembly, and radiation shielding capability, for penetration hole sealing, post-maintenance, and high-flux neutron and γ-ray radiation protection. The research...

2026-08-21

U.S. Department of Energy Selects Fermilab to Lead AI Project to Enhance Superconducting Radio-Frequency Cavity Control in Particle Accelerators

The U.S. Department of Energy's Genesis Program recently selected an artificial intelligence project led by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, supporting its collaboration with national laboratories, universities, and industry to use AI and machine learning technologies to improve resonance control in particle accelerators. The project aims to enhance accelerator operational performance and beam stability while reducing energy consumption and operating costs. Superconducting radio-frequency cavities are being assembled and tested, ready for installation on the Proton Improvement Plan-II at the Fermilab Accelerator Complex. By finely tuning the resonant frequency of the cavities, scientists can optimize acc...

2026-08-21

Large Hadron Collider experiments reveal neon nucleus may be bowling-pin shaped

A recent experimental result from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN suggests that the internal structure of the neon-20 nucleus may not be approximately spherical as commonly depicted in traditional textbooks, but rather closer to a "bowling pin" shape. This finding provides new experimental clues for studying deformation of light atomic nuclei and collective behavior in high-energy nuclear collisions. Atomic nuclei are composed of protons and neutrons, determining the elemental identity of atoms and carrying most of their mass. Although nuclei are often simplistically depicted as spherical, nuclear physics research has shown that some nuclei exhibit pronounced non-spherical deformation, such as the pear-shaped nuclei mentioned in previous studies. Accurately understanding these shapes helps physicists...

2026-08-21

US FRIB Experiment Reveals Magnetic Origin of Anomalous Low-Energy Gamma-Ray Enhancement

According to an August 21 announcement from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a new study led by the U.S. Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) with participation from researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and other institutions has provided a new experimental explanation for the long-standing low-energy enhancement phenomenon in nuclear physics. The findings were published in the journal Nature. An experiment at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) has yielded new results, answering a fundamental question about nuclear structure. (Image: FRIB) Gamma rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation. When an excited nucleus loses energy during radioactive decay and transitions to a lower, more stable energy level, it emits gamma rays. Over the past few decades, scientists have discovered that certain nuclei emit anomalously large numbers of low-energy gamma rays, but this phenomenon does not occur in all nuclei, and its occurrence conditions have been difficult to predict reliably in theory.

2026-08-21

Automatic Radiation Environment Monitoring Station in Mianyang, Sichuan Put into Trial Operation, with Core Equipment and Systems Achieving Domestic Localization

Recently, the automatic radiation environment monitoring station located within the Nuclear Medical Health Industrial Park of the China (Mianyang) Science and Technology City was officially put into trial operation. As the first automatic radiation environment monitoring station in Sichuan Province to fully achieve domestic localization of core equipment and systems, it will provide radiation environment safety assurance for the development of the nuclear medical industry in the park through 24-hour uninterrupted automatic monitoring capabilities. At the automatic radiation environment monitoring station, operational data from equipment such as environmental γ dose rate monitors are updated in real time on monitoring screens. Compared with the previous approach that relied on manual on-site sampling and batch laboratory analysis, the automatic station enables continuous monitoring, reducing the time required to produce monitoring results from several days to the same day, thereby improving...

2026-08-20

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory to Validate Spherical Tokamak Fusion Path with NSTX-U

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is advancing research on the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U), planning to use this largest spherical tokamak in the United States to assess the potential of compact tokamak configurations for future fusion power plants. The device is designed to become one of the most powerful spherical tokamaks in the world and will be used to study key issues such as high-temperature plasma confinement, heat transport, material performance, and real-time control. The image above shows the vacuum vessel and center column of the NSTX-U at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). This device will help scientists determine the optimal shape for future fusion power plants...

2026-08-20