Maximum Warp: Nuclear Power and Space Exploration

By Guest Blogger, Nathan Edge 

This month Nathan Edge discusses the nature and operation of nuclear devices being used in unmanned space operations. As an aside, I can't believe I wasn't the first person to type into Google, "nuclear engine...USS Enterprise"?! Nathan provides links to sites for more information throughout the piece. Anyway, on with the article!

Episode Six - There's Something About Iran

On this months show we discuss a little-known country called Iran and the nature of their nuclear programme. On our journey of whimsy we discover that mice may well communicate to humans through mobile phones, the Power Rangers may be called upon to face a new threat in Japan, there isn't a weapons-grade nuclear device on the Curiosity rover and the purpose of dodgeball is to avoid dislocating your thumb!

Our guest speakers this month are Craig Morrison and Maureen Haverty!

The track played on this episode was "Computer" by State Shirt from the album This is Old.

Computer (State Shirt) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Click on the "Read More" tab below to access the podcast.

PRISM for the UK's plutonium – Pros and Cons

By guest blogger, Matthew Gill

The UK has a lot of plutonium and recently decided to look at GE-Hitachi's PRISM reactor as an alternative disposal method to the more common MOX (mixed oxide) route. It's an important issue at the moment as the UK's large stockpile of civil plutonium goes against the ideology of a proliferation-resistant fuel cycle and is widely regarded as unacceptable.

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