Neutron Bytes: Transatomic Releases Details of New Reactor Design

Advanced reactor developer Transatomic Power Corporation has released a new technical white paper detailing its advanced nuclear reactor design.

In a business world which almost always zealously guards the integrity of its intellectual property, the action is an unprecedented step for an early-stage nuclear reactor developer.

The paper, which is posted to the company’s website, provides an in-depth look at the science underlying the core design, and further demonstrates what its designers say are its advantages over existing power generation technologies.

CNBC: Elon Musk Has a New 'Secret' Master Plan

A decade after unveiling a "master plan" to turn Tesla Motors into an automotive powerhouse, founder Elon Musk has dropped a big hint that he's going back to the drawing board.

The automaker has come under withering scrutiny over its ability to deliver on its promises, as well as a recent death involving one of its Model S cars. Yet on Sunday, the mogul announced on Twitter that he is working on a "secret master plan, part 2," with details to come later this week.

Back in August of 2006, Musk published a blog post that detailed the automaker's "Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (just between you and me)," in which he spelled out Tesla's overarching vision for the automaker.

Fortune: Money Flows Into Batteries for Buildings, Power Grid

Over the past half decade, the solar market has boomed thanks to falling solar panel prices. Now the same thing is happening with technology for storing energy.

Lithium-ion battery prices have started to drop, helping to create a market for developing, financing, and selling battery systems to building owners, corporations, and utilities. The batteries are important because they can store energy produced by solar panels for use at night, can help utilities better manage the power grid, and can help building owners save money on their energy bills.

The Conversation: How a Single Word Sparked a Four-Year Saga of Climate Fact-Checking and Blog Backlash

In May 2012, my colleagues and I had a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Climate, showing that temperatures recorded in Australasia since 1950 were warmer than at any time in the past 1,000 years.

Following the early online release of the paper, as the manuscript was being prepared for the journal’s print edition, one of our team spotted a typo in the methods section of the manuscript.

While the paper said the study had used “detrended” data -- temperature data from which the longer-term trends had been removed -- the study had in fact used raw data. When we checked the computer code, the DETREND command said “FALSE” when it should have said “TRUE."

It turned out that someone else had spotted the typo too. Two days after we identified the issue, a commenter on the Climate Audit blog also pointed it out.

The website’s author, Stephen McIntyre, proceeded to claim (incorrectly) that there were “fundamental issues” with the study. It was the start of a concerted smear campaign aimed at discrediting our science.

Bloomberg: Mini Nuclear Reactors to Be Built by Sheffield Forgemasters

Britain’s ambition to build small modular nuclear plants took a step forward as the nation’s last independent steelmaker said it will work with Fluor Corp.’s NuScale Power to make components.

Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd. will forge a large civil nuclear reactor vessel head by the end of 2017. It’s part of a 4-million-pound ($5.17 million) program funded by the government-backed Innovate U.K. agency, according to a statement.

NuScale, majority owned by Fluor, is providing an undisclosed sum of additional funding for the program, a spokesperson for the company said by email.