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Fukushima Lesson: Prepare for Unanticipated Nuclear Accidents

By Guest PostMarch 12, 2012Environmentalexandra navrotsky, davis, decontamination, earthquake, edward h kraus, electricity, Environment, fission, fukushima, fukushima daiichi, fukushima reactor, human health, hydrogen gas, Japan, japanese government, knowledge, magnitude, nuclear fuels, nuclear power plant, nuclear waste, peter burns, radiation, radioactive fallout, rehabilitation, rodney ewing, seawater, tepco, tsunami, university of california, university of michigan, university of notre dame, uranium dioxide, zirconium alloy

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A year after the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, scientists and engineers remain largely in the dark when it comes to fundamental knowledge about how nuclear fuels behave under extreme conditions, according to a University of Michigan nuclear waste expert and his colleagues.

In a review article in this week’s edition of the journal Science, U-M’s Rodney Ewing and two colleagues call for an ambitious, long-term national research program to study how nuclear fuels behave under the extreme conditions present during core-melt events like those that occurred at Fukushima following the March 11, 2011, magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami. (more…)

Solving a Spintronic Mystery:

By Guest PostFebruary 29, 2012Scienceberkeley lab, charge carriers, curie temperature, electron acceptors, electronic states, fermi level, ferromagnetic properties, gallium, gallium arsenide, gallium manganese arsenide, jacek furdyna, kin man yu, magneto optical data, margaret dobrowolska, mona berciu, rutherford backscattering facility, semiconductor, silicon, spin, spintronic devices, spintronic potential, spintronic technology, university of notre dame, valence energy band, wladek walukiewicz, xinyu liu

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Resolve Controversy Over Gallium Manganese Arsenide that Could Boost Spintronic Performance*

A long-standing controversy regarding the semiconductor gallium manganese arsenide, one of the most promising materials for spintronic technology, looks to have been resolved. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in collaboration with scientist from University of Notre Dame have determined the origin of the charge-carriers responsible for the ferromagnetic properties that make gallium manganese arsenide such a hot commodity for spintronic devices. Such devices utilize electron spin rather than charge to read and write data, resulting in smaller, faster and much cheaper data storage and processing. (more…)

The Undead May Influence Biodiversity, Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By Guest PostJanuary 27, 2011Environmentbiodiversity, cellular mechanisms, dormant microbes, greenhouse gas emissions, jay lennon, microorganisms affect, university of notre dame

EAST LANSING, Mich. — It’s commonly known, at least among microbiologists, that microbes have an additional option to living or dying — dormancy.

Dormant microbes are less like zombies and more like hibernating bears. What isn’t known, however, is how large numbers of dormant microorganisms affect the natural environments when they act as microbial seed banks. In the current issue of Nature Reviews: Microbiology, Jay Lennon, Michigan State University assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, examines the cellular mechanisms that allow microbes to hibernate and addresses the implications they can have on larger ecosystems such as soil, oceans, lakes and the human body. (more…)

Tag Archives: university of notre dame

Fukushima Lesson: Prepare for Unanticipated Nuclear Accidents

Solving a Spintronic Mystery:

The Undead May Influence Biodiversity, Greenhouse Gas Emissions