Public concern about the safety of nuclear plants is driving research into ways to make the fuel rods more able to survive the kind of unexpected calamity experienced in Fukushima in 2011. Following the tsunami, hydrogen explosions were caused by the conventional zirconium-based fuel cladding interacting with the high temperature steam produced when the safety system failed and coolant water heated up. Writing for MIT, Leda Zimmerman describes … [Read more...]