The end, and a re-start?

The big (and sad) news in the world of nuclear physics research is that the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility has ceased operation.  It's a shame, not because science facilities must run for ever, but that HRIBF really seemed in the prime of its life and was doing things that can't be done elsewhere.  As ever in such cases, though, science was not necessarily the highest priority when making the decision.  My (only?) colleague in the world of nuclear physics blogging, Miss Atomic Bomb, has written about it.  She works there.  My slightly tenuous link is that I used to work in its shadow, literally - in the (now demolished) theory building next door!

On the other hand, I flew to Germany today.  Usually when I fly, I pick up a free copy of the FT.  This is not so I can complete the look of an English businessman in a suit and bowler hat, but more because they print interesting news stories that are often not covered much elsewhere.  At £2.50 per issue, I tend not to ever buy it myself, but I enjoy reading it when I do, and more importantly it has what I consider a sufficiently challenging, yet sufficiently easy cryptic crossword to keep my occupied on the plane journey when I've finished reading the news.

Today, the FT carried a story on the expected future price of uranium mining stocks, which apparently have fallen to about half their pre-Fukushima value.  It is reported that Japan is going to restart some nuclear power stations following some stress-testing.  This is happy news for people with an interesting in uranium mining, I guess, and interesting to me as I didn't really see how Japan could do otherwise.

There were actually another couple of stories mentioning nuclear issues - about the talks regarding Iran's nuclear intentions and an editorial speculating about North Korea's.   Perhaps I should be reading the FT more often.  I do live a very short walk from a library at which I can read a free copy.

Anyway, while I have mentioned the FT crossword, I can tell you about the joke that I learned as a child, and obviously didn't understand at the time.  It goes, "What is pink and hard in the morning?"  The answer is "The Financial Times crossword."  I heard a friend of my parents tell it, and I re-told it as "What is pink and difficult in the morning?"  Much less funny.  

Nuclear Tourism

Just a quick post to point out that I've been in Montreal, home of McGill University.  Ernest Rutherford, the father of nuclear physics, worked here between 1898 and 1907, and it was here that he performed the work that won him the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (though his later work in Manchester ought to have gained him a second prize, in Physics).

There's a small Rutherford Museum in the Physics Department here.  I saw it only through the glass in the locked door to the entrance.  It turns out one can only visit by appointment, and I turned up towards the end of my last day in Montreal.  Still, here's a picture of me standing next to Rutherford, in the lobby of the Physics Department at McGill:

Astro coming to Surrey

One of the most popular "physics with..." courses we offer at Surrey is Physics with Nuclear Astrophysics.  It seems to capture the imagination of applicants, combining, as it does, a couple of the more fundamental areas of physics, linking them with their joint role in the creation of the elements in stars (though the course content is more than just the specialism).

We are able to offer it because of our large nuclear physics research group, which is approximately the largest in the UK, depending how you count.  We do not have such a research group on the pure astro side. At least, not at the moment, but rather excitingly (for me, at least) the University has just advertised for three posts in astrophysics.  I don't know many astrophysicists personally, but I'm sure there are some nice ones out there who'll I'll look forward to having as colleagues.  For those that do not subscribe to THES to see the adverts, there are some details on the University's website.  

An off-topic spot the difference

I wonder if readers have noticed the remarkable similarity in appearance between still-Archbishop Rowan Williams, and the priest sprite from popular 1980s home computer game Jet Set Willy?

Jet-Set Sprite		Re(s)igning Archbishop

Towards a Low Carbon Future

An interesting report was published today by the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford.  The whole report can be found here, but I think the key points in the executive summary speak for themselves (except for the strange repetition of "UK" in the second point):

• If the UK is going to go down the decarbonisation route there is an enormous challenge in meeting the electricity demand, particularly with its increased use in transport and possibly heating. At present the current proposals for new nuclear reactors will be no more than sufficient in replacing the current fleet.
• If the UK is serious about developing a world leading capability in the UK we need to develop a long term nuclear strategy encompassing both reactors and fuel cycle.
• Use of nuclear power to a degree that cuts global warming will require either much higher uranium reserves than currently identified or a change of fuel cycle to minimise uranium use. If the fabrication of MOX fuel is to proceed, it should be as part of an overall strategic plan to maximise the benefit to the UK from the burning of UK plutonium in UK reactors.
• The structure of the UK nuclear industry is aligned more towards the ‘no nuclear’ stance of 2003 than the ‘new build’ stance of 2012. There is a clear need for an independent body to advise and drive a long- term nuclear strategy.

Nuclear plant pictures

I'm not sure I'll get a chance to go to this, but there's an exhibition of photographs of nuclear power plants showing in London at the moment.  As someone whose exposure to nuclear physics research is largely through simulations and calculations, I am always rather impressed whenever I see bits of kit.  Probably never more so when visiting NIF in the US, which was a very hi-tech space age kind of place.  I'd probably rather visit a nuclear power station, but I bet the pictures are interesting.

Edit: Oh, it's even better. It's part of a huge nuclear series of events.

STFC publicise nuclear physics

I may have moaned a bit in the past about the extent to which STFC supports nuclear physics in proportion to other areas, but I was pleased to see today that its latest press release is all about some excellent work by UK nuclear physicists working at the Jyväskylä Laboratory in Finland, looking at isotopes of rutherfordium.

Now around 10^* of the 1010 press releases on their website are about nuclear physics, which is definitely a step in the right direction.

^*My methodology for coming up with the number is based on the substring "nucl" being in the precis part of the press release.  It may have led to an inaccurate number, but I doubt that it's widely wrong.