To meet energy demands and reestablish the nation’s energy dominance, U.S. companies are developing several types of advanced reactors.

One type of advanced reactor, a molten salt reactor, uses fuels dissolved in molten salt coolants instead of the solid fuels used in traditional nuclear reactors. These reactors feature enhanced safety features and high temperatures, which will offer utilities more flexibility in the form of efficient heat and electricity.

“The Kansai area will never experience a major earthquake.” That was how many people felt before the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. But if we examine history, most areas in Japan have records chronicling the devastation caused by earthquakes, and Kobe is no exception. Project Associate Professor MATSUSHITA Masakazu leads the division promoting regional cooperation in education at the Office for Promoting Regional Partnership, and his activities are focused on making it easier for residents to be aware of past disasters, based on information provided by memorial stones and historical documents that remain in local areas. We asked him about the importance of learning from local records and passing on the culture of disaster preparedness to future generations.

When a natural disaster disrupts the lifeline services of water, electricity, gas, or telecommunications, this can wreak havoc on people’s lives. In order to build resilient lifelines, it is essential to analyze the impacts disasters may have, for example, on underground pipelines, and make use of this information in future designs. Professor KUWATA Yasuko at the Graduate School of Engineering is an expert in lifeline earthquake engineering and, in addition to the importance of strengthening facilities, she points out the need for taking measures based on the assumption that there will be potential damage in the event of a disaster, and for raising awareness among the public.

Department of Chemistry doctoral student Evan Fox is pioneering research on sustainable battery materials that could reduce reliance on traditional resources and power the future of energy storage.

As a cancer patient, it can be challenging to ask questions of your health care providers. Even though I am a trained journalist who practically asks questions for a living, I struggled with all the questions I had during the early parts of my cancer journey.

Over the next four years, PNNL and University of Arizona will develop open-source computational tools to better identify and characterize the viruses associated with the human microbiome.