It’s not all wins. For the last 2 years following a successful PhD defense, a lot went well: an exciting consultancy with CSR, several tritium pubs, and a postdoc at Virginia Tech generously funded by the newly renamed Andrew Carnegie Foundation. And, the Tritium Matters Working Group kickoff.

The U.S. threat is now that Iran has to hurry up and finalize a deal with Oman to control the Strait of Hormuz, charging fees, or the U.S. will attack. No, I’m not kidding. The U.S. president demands that Iran achieve exactly the thing he’s repeatedly said the U.S. was fighting to prevent.

Bloomberg News@bloomberg.com · 2d ago

US President Donald Trump is pushing Iran to reach a deal with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz as soon as Tuesday, or face devastating air strikes on the country.

Congress now has 90 continuous session days to review a 123 agreement once submitted. Lawmakers must demand to see the unreleased side letters and technical "black box" details, and they must place strict nonproliferation conditions on the deal. 6/7

NPT Art. IV.2 “All the Parties to the Treaty undertake to facilitate, and have the right to participate in. the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.” The “mere suggestion” is part of the NPT already.

Unsplintering.bsky.social@unsplintering.bsky.social · last wk.

"The mere suggestion of a nuclear arrangement with Saudi Arabia is the latest nail to be affixed to the coffin of arms control and disarmament. We lost the New START Treaty earlier this year" www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/29/d...

IAEA Inspector: Do you know why I pulled you over? Anna: … IAEA Inspector: Get out of the car and open the trunk.

Anna Biela@nuclearanna.bsky.social · last wk.

Did you know: the Hyundai Elantra is perfectly sized to fit one (1) quarter height nuclear fuel assembly in its trunk?

Philip K. Dick couldn’t have invented a fictional company as good at eroding social trust and goodwill as Meta. It’s almost as if it’s their sole purpose.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 2w ago

“The vast majority of the talent and agents at our events felt that these were a violation of their privacy and were damaging and spoiling the interactions at the tables. Several expressed concerns that they might not continue to attend in-person events if they were being recorded in secret.”

This thread is mostly on point but here are some key caveats: It’s significant Canadian nukes are part of discourse. CANDU Rxs are operationally better suited for Pu production vs LWR. Canada already has tritium for boosted weapons. It might take a decade or more. It would be obvious/detectable

Timothy Huyer@tim4hire.bsky.social · 2w ago

Oh good grief. This is paranoia wrapped up in fantasy. Canada’s nuclear industry, including plans for new reactors, do not give any reasons that Canada may break or exit the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Aside from it being politically suicidal for the government, it remains practically impossible. 1/

Called it!

Hegseth turns to University of North Carolina, Virginia Tech after cutting Ivy League ties

The Defense Department has selected the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Virginia Tech to host a revamped fellowship program for senior military officers — the first universities app…

thehill-com.cdn.ampproject.org

Dr. Taylor Loy@tayloraloy.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Virginia Tech EXONERATED from being WOKE! Military Officers note we have a NoVA campus and an excellent Science and Tech Studies program and an intensive interdisciplinary Nuclear Science Technology and Policy Grad Certificate. STS is definitely not WOKE don’t put in the papers that we’re WOKE!

This is my final answer. (For now)

Dr. Taylor Loy@tayloraloy.bsky.social · 2w ago

So, if (top/bottom 12 x 4) seems like there are 48 x p100b modules. If we use the nominal value of 2Ci from p100a then that's 96Ci or ~10mg of tritium. Image reference: citylabs.net/first-commer...

For reference, I'm going to roughly calculate tritium in an Apollo launch. T in 201,721 lbs of hydrogen fuel: based on a natural abundance of 10⁻¹⁸ 2.736 × 10⁻⁷ μg or 2634 pCi Based on a rough estimate of T abundance in 1969 (~40x): 1.094 × 10⁻⁵ μg or 105,326 pCi

Does anyone have information on how much tritium is in the BOHR battery?

François Diaz-Maurin@francoisdm.bsky.social · 2w ago

Is space ready for commercial nuclear energy? The recent launch of City Labs' tritium-powered BOHR satellite marks a major milestone for commercial space—and sets an urgent precedent for orbital nuclear governance, write Isobel Porteous & Mallory Stewart of @councilonstrategicrisks.org. 1/4 🧵

QUESTION: Would you be comfortable with Saudi Arabia enriching and reprocessing uranium? SECRETARY RUBIO: I’ll let the agreement speak for itself. www.state.gov/releases/off...

See you, suckas! Gonna do some webcrawlin’!

Sky Marchini@sky.skymarchini.net · 2w ago

"search it up!"

Still love how Jesus’s teachings are suspended for the conduct of wars even though there is nothing in the Gospels to support that. Christians literally have explicit instructions not to apply eye for an eye retribution. But… *waves hands* obviously Jesus didn’t mean for wars. States are special.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Q: Do you rule out striking civilian infrastructure? MARCO RUBIO: Iran's policy is an eye for an eye. The president's policy is a head for an eye. Honestly. That's what it's going to be. They're going to pay a very heavy price. They are going to suffer more. (Definitely not a yes!)

I suffered through Kratsios' answer to Science: the Endless Frontier. The NYT summary is good, but there's more to it. And I should say that I welcome improvements to the scientific enterprise (which is why I'm participating in @alondra.bsky.social and Jenny Reardon's Public's Science project). 🧵

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

nytimes.com

According to Trump, enrichment is not in the Saudi nuclear cooperation deal and he obviously knows what uranium enrichment is. See. Yall got excited over nothing.

Overconfident humans who don’t listen to anybody else scare the hell out of me.

This spring I'm reviving Physics 306: Nuclear Physics and Technology. Everything from shell models to reactor neutronics. Last time (2021) we talked about AP1000s, ESBWRs, and doomed SMR startups. Times have changed! Would love advice about how to teach the latest fusion and SMR R&D. #nukesky ⚛️🎢

New Endless Frontier just dropped.

Costa Samaras@costasamaras.com · 2w ago

This misunderstands the role of private vs. public R&D. Private R&D is great but is connected to R&D tax exemptions, & often doesn't spill out into the public domain. There's a notion we can ramp federal R&D spending down & be competitive. We can’t & we shouldn’t. www.whitehouse.gov/releases/202...

Anti-immigration ops are not polling well, so they’ve got to bust out the original xenophobic bangers.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Scalise: "The Bolshevik takeover of the Democratic Party is in full swing, and communism is on the ballot this November"

Graduate, what is best in life?

NPR@npr.org · 3w ago

If an undergraduate program's graduates don't earn more than workers who never went to college, that program could be cut off from federal student loans. But is a degree just about making more money?

Nuclear proliferation will be one of Trump’s biggest legacies. Accepted North Korea’s nukes and let Iran out of nuclear restrictions in exchange for nothing in term 1. In term 2, made US allies think they need their own deterrent, now authorizing Saudi uranium enrichment without normal safeguards.

CNN@cnn.com · 3w ago

The Trump administration has tentatively agreed to allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium without enacting international safeguards intended to prevent nuclear weapons development, according to sources familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by CNN. https://cnn.it/4fhCFWc

I genuinely hate that Runner’s World appears to do a better job investigating Miller’s throw-away comment on High School hi-jinx than most of the MSM covering much more crucial claims that could be proven/disproven with a tiny bit of investigating (read: work).

Grungehamster@grungehamster.bsky.social · 3w ago

Reminder that there was an allegation that he jumped into a girl's race in high school just to smoke them all, and when a magazine investigated it they determined it didn't happen AND the most reasonable explanation is Miller made it up because he thought it made him look good to do that.

"Mandrake..."

Matthew Gault@mjgault.bsky.social · 3w ago

Hegseth announced they're gonna start screening for T and administering testosterone treatment for warriors found wanting

The only “Ten Commandments” story that needs to be taught in public schools is how quickly religious people turn to worship golden idols in the absence of spiritual leadership.

A few thoughts on the process to replace Lindsey Graham who passed away last night.* Basics: The Governor (Henry McMaster) gets to appoint someone to fulfill the rest of Graham's term (up this yr), then there's a special election, the winner of which will run in November 🤏🧵

One of the most interesting payloads on the recent Transporter 17 launch is BOHR, from Miami-based City Labs. It is a 1U cubesat with a tritium battery. The mildly radioactive tritium (12 yr half life) spits out energetic electrons which hit a semiconductor target. (1/n)

There is an implicit assumption that humans become power-hungry automatons if tempted with power. But any of these suss candidates could just say, “naw, I’m good.” They still have agency. They just need more shame and fear of having their past judged on its own merits.

Angry@angrystaffer.bsky.social · 4w ago

Platner is out. Good. Still fuck him, though - stop running for public office if you’re a piece of shit. The oppo WILL find out.

Front border filling out with summer. Daisies doing what I hoped they would.

For those following because of my checkered, Anarchist past, here’s my MA thesis which includes analysis of V for Vendetta (comic), The Matrix (film), and Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (novel):