Nuclear ‘power balls` may make meltdowns a thing of the past
(WorldNews Environment)

This story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The basic idea behind all nuclear power plants is the same: Convert the heat created by nuclear fission into electricity. There are several ways to do this, but in each case it involves a delicate balancing act between safety and efficiency. A nuclear reactor works best when the core is really hot, but if it gets too hot it will cause a meltdown and the environment will get poisoned and people may die and it will take billions of dollars to clean up the mess. The last time this happened was less than a decade ago, when a massive earthquake followed by a series of tsunamis caused a...