iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 20/09/2026

I believe this is the world's earliest nuclear fusion documentary, produced in 1958. Available now online! www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxqh...

youtube.com

Research into Controlled Fusion (1958)

YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

173

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 09/08/2026

Serious question to people who are protesting data centers: how would you feel if they were operated offshore? ⚛️Powered with sustainable nuclear ⛲Cooled with abundant seawater 🏠Not in anyone's backyard 🧑‍🔧Built in shipyards reindustrializing America 🇺🇸 Allows us to stay competitive internationally

6184

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 24/07/2026

Great film: Research Reactors U.S.A (1958) Fun to see the University of Michigan Ford Nuclear Reactor in some detail at the beginning. Thanks to the IAEA for digitizing and DOE for letting me publish it. youtu.be/3BJyBohKeD4?...

youtu.be

Research Reactors U.S.A. (1958)

YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

1122

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 29/05/2026

What does "going critical" mean? If you shoot a neutron into some uranium ore, some atoms will split by fission, but you haven't made a nuclear reactor. Too many secondary neutrons leak out or get absorbed without splitting neighboring atoms. 1/n

Chain reaction pic from Duderstadt and Hamilton

1156

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 27/05/2026

The Engineering Test Reactor (ETR) was constructed in 1957 at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. It was a 175 MWt reactor that absolutely hammered fuels and materials with high flux neutrons, fine-tuning the high-performance nuclear technology we use today www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_b3...

youtube.com

Engineering Test Reactor (1958)

YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

071

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 20/05/2026

This Combustion Engineering facility in Chattanooga, TN fabricated 57 reactor pressure vessels for US reactors, plus more overseas, and lots of other heavy equipment. As the nuclear industry ramps back up in the US, I hope we see lots more facilities like this soon.

Combustion Engineering facility in Chattanooga, TN showing lots of reactor pressure vessels

4274

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 17/05/2026

If you pull a vacuum on wood, then impregnate it with a monomer, and then irradiate it with gamma rays, you get a wood-plastic composite that is extremely tough while looking great. If it gets scuffed, you just buff it out, the finish goes all the way through. www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9sQ...

youtube.com

Atomic Revolution in Wood (1969)

YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

280

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 02/05/2026

Industrial Applications of Nuclear Explosives (1958) That's one way to make a new harbor! www.youtube.com/watch?v=py9e...

youtube.com

Industrial Applications of Nuclear Explosives (1958)

YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

171

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 02/03/2026

Those new studies linking nuclear plant proximity to cancer use very weak scientific methods. No dose assessment, no control group. It's shameful that they passed peer review. Takedown here: www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/two-new-pa...

breakthroughjournal.org

Two New Papers Are Wrong About Cancer Risk from Nuclear Plants

Poor Research Design and Strong Claims Don’t Mesh Well

1113

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 14/02/2026

Visiting the Nuclear Ship Savannah in person is worth traveling to Baltimore for, especially since they recently opened up the reactor vessel. Saturday, February 21st. www.ans.org/news/2026-02... @americannuclear.bsky.social

ans.org

NS Savannah soon open to the public

0224

Reposted by Nick Touran

Michael McLean @michaelmclean.me · 09/02/2026

ICYMI: @whatisnuclear.com digitized this 1967 film about the BONUS reactor, in Puerto Rico. Superheated steam from a boiling water reactor! whatisnuclear.com/news/2023-09...

0132

Reposted by Nick Touran

Jessica Lovering @lovering.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Have you ever wondered if small nuclear reactors could possibly beat out the economies of scale from large reactors? Check out my latest report @theniaorg.bsky.social “Right-Sizing Reactors: Balancing trade-offs between economies of scale and volume” tinyurl.com/bdhz27wt

1104

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 27/01/2026

The classic mouse trap and ping pong ball demo, from Martin Marietta. Only problem is that the mouse traps flying around set off other mouse traps, dramatically increasing keff. They should have glued them to the bottom. (VHS quality because, well, it was on VHS)

481

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 24/01/2026

I made a new 'microreactors' page. Benefits: 1. Novel power markets 2. Manufactured product 3. Within reach of VC 4. Fewer radionuclides Challenges: 1. Economies of scale 2. Tyranny of neutron diffusion 3. Shielding whatisnuclear.com/microreactor...

whatisnuclear.com

What are Microreactors?

Definition, history, opportunities, and challenges of micro nuclear reactors

2183

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 22/01/2026

Presenting: A 1980s film describing uranium enrichment using gaseous diffusion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5gN...

youtube.com

The Enrichment of Uranium (1980s)

YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

0104

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 22/01/2026

🍿⚛️ Today we have: "Managing Radioactive Waste At the Nevada Test Site", a 1980 film from DOE, freshly scanned off of U-matic video cassette kindly provided to me by Prof. Ron Knief. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Jd...

youtube.com

Managing Radioactive Wastes At The Nevada Test Site (1980)

YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

0122

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 19/01/2026

Check out the state of nuclear fusion research as it stood in 1988 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuss...

youtube.com

Sun of Man (1988)

YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

040

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 19/01/2026

It's not that advanced reactors aren't and can never be economical (that's crazy), but they haven't been economical so far (for very specific reasons) and have a steep hill to climb to achieve viability. As always, the only way to climb it is to build build build. www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2JL...

youtube.com

Inside America’s $3T Nuclear Bet (HALEU)

YouTube video by AtomicBlender

183

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 17/01/2026

Nuclear waste transport cask testing... with Red Alert music

1213

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 12/01/2026

Flash animations from the 2006 version of whatisnuclear dot com, made by yours truly. "This is what they stole from us" 😂

0164

Reposted by Nick Touran

Michael McLean @michaelmclean.me · 08/01/2026

Neat site that explains the value of clean firm resources like nuclear, hydro, and geothermal in a highly decarbonized grid nathandiyer.github.io/clean-energy...

3258

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 07/01/2026

The Beetle, everyone's favorite actually-real mecha, inside and out. It was designed to do maintenance in the highly radioactive areas around nuclear-powered long-range bomber aircraft back in the nuclear-powered flight days.

The Beetle, taken from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4540517&view=1up&seq=293&skin=2021&q1=beetle and cleaned up with AI

The Beetle cap inside, taken from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4540517&view=1up&seq=293&skin=2021&q1=beetle and cleaned up with AI

0122

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 07/01/2026

I'm currently getting these historical nuclear films digitized. Standby! As far as I can tell, none of them exist online yet except the Accident Testing one, which shows the Sandia cask tests. I'm getting that one scanned with hopes that it'll be extra high quality for everyone's pleasure.

list of films being scanned, including:

- Umatic
- Numatec The Enrichment of Uranium
- Managing nuclear waste at the Nevada Test Site
- Basalt Waste Isolation Project
- VHS
- Splitting Atoms - An Electrifying Experience
- Martin Marietta Energy Systems Mouse trap -fission chain reaction
- Sun of Man
- Enriched Uranium
- 16-mm
- Accident Testing

0132

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 26/10/2025

Yesterday, Russia announced that its new nuclear-powered cruise missile flew for 15 hours straight. The US had such a thing in development in the 1950s (see film), but it looks like the Russians have finally gotten one operational. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qMu...

youtube.com

Nuclear-powered Ramjet Cruise Missile: LASV-N1 (Progress Report 1963)

YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

151

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 12/10/2025

Here's what neutron chain reaction dynamics kinda look like. The green bar is control rod position and the trace shows reactor power, starting at 1. After each control adjustment, there is a 'prompt jump' followed by a longer exponential tail from delayed neutrons.

0111

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 11/10/2025

Man! I was at a workshop in my home state of Michigan on Thursday and we were brainstorming ideas to bring more nuclear power industry to the state. I mentioned that the Upper Peninsula has pretty good geology for a long-term nuclear waste repository (reducing environment, precambrian rock)....

1100

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 02/10/2025

Can't reply on the post for some reason... but after 3 years of shutdown it does not take that much cooling to keep the spent fuel cooled. Something like a garden hose of water going in should suffice. I'm not super worried about it.

1132

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 01/10/2025

Taking a Geiger counter on a flight with the sound on is a great way to get some serious side-eye from your neighbors, maybe leading to a good discussion about dose rate

0174

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 23/09/2025

It's a true miracle of nature that water is both a good neutron moderator and reactor coolant. Its ability to moderate and cool at the same time is quite underappreciated in today's pro-nuclear circles.

3346

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 30/08/2025

Pretty neat model of a PWR from the 1965 Boy Scouts Atomic Energy merit badge book. Honestly, building this would help kids understand quite a bit about a reactor.

model reactor from boy scouts https://archive.org/details/atomicenergy00boys/page/n1/mode/2up

5165

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 18/08/2025

Looking into the core of BORAX-5, which pushed the limits of what a BWR could do: nuclear superheat and natural circulation. The superheat region is in the center. BWRs today are not so bold as to superheat steam. Have materials improved enough to try again? Probably!

Looking into the BORAX-5 nuclear reactor core

0134

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 04/08/2025

Getting these 45 historical nuclear films from 1955-83 dug up and digitized has been one of the coolest and most rewarding things I've done with What is Nuclear. Thanks to you all for your interest and support in this project! There are only ~100 left to get. whatisnuclear.com/museum/

2175

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 02/08/2025

For all you Anki users out there (free spaced repetition learning app), I made a deck for memorizing the US Nuclear Power Plants. Planning to expand it more later but it's starting out with just the operational commercial units. ENJOY! github.com/whatisnuclea...

github.com

GitHub - whatisnuclear/nuclear-plant-anki-deck: Anki cards for memorizing info about nuclear power plants

Anki cards for memorizing info about nuclear power plants - whatisnuclear/nuclear-plant-anki-deck

080

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 26/07/2025

Observation: the actions that get more investors to buy into your nuclear company are currently the opposite of those needed to develop an economical, operable, maintainable, and safe nuclear plant. Anyone have ideas about how to bring these back into alignment?

2110

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 22/07/2025

CNA in Singapore produced a nuclear power documentary called "The Nuclear Option" that you can watch online. They visited many key places and talked to lots of people. It came together super well! www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

youtube.com

The Nuclear Option - YouTube

0123

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 03/07/2025

Beryllium triflute that fit between the pins in the PPA. Who's working on beryllium triflutes today?!

beryllium triflute https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015001554800&seq=72&view=1up

2101

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 03/07/2025

Here's Preliminary Pile Assembly-19, where rotating control drums were first mocked up in a critical facility around 1951. Note the six smaller hexagon outlines on each corner of the central hex, each of which represents a control drum.

ppa-19 circa 1951 https://doi.org/10.2172/348907

2133

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 02/07/2025

We debate this endlessly within the pro-nuclear world, but I really don't think it's super complicated. There's plenty of room to promote either without throwing the other under the bus.

guy pressing two buttons to build LWRs and advanced reactors

3273

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 28/06/2025

Here's the Neutronics Scoping Tool, which allows you to dial in a certain core height, radius, enrichment, and power rating and see if it will go critical and how long it will run. Then, it estimates the fuel LCOE, average discharge burnup, and a whole lot more. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQzD...

youtube.com

Neutronics Scoping Tool demonstration

YouTube video by What is Nuclear?

1142

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 28/06/2025

Big Rock Point in Northern Michigan was the prettiest nuclear plant. It's crazy that one little 71 MWe plant like this can make enough electricity to power a whole county in peak fudgie season.

Nuclear plant along Lake Michigan with American flag. From Greenwood Cemetery archives

1121

Nick Touran @whatisnuclear.com · 22/06/2025

Natural uranium is mostly U-238, with a 4.5 billion yr half-life. A kg of it kicks out 12M alpha particles per second with 4 MeV of energy each, generating 8 microwatts of ionizing radiation. It's not super hazardous, and you can hold it in the palm of your hand with a glove.

2195