VIENNA (AP) – The Biden administration hopes to create a commercial nuclear fusion facility within 10 years as part of the nation’s transition to clean energy, United States (US) Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Monday.

Calling nuclear fusion a pioneering technology, Granholm said President Joe Biden wants to harness fusion as a carbon-free energy source that can power homes and businesses.

“It’s not out of the realm of possibility” that the US could achieve Biden’s “decadal vision of commercial fusion,” Granholm said in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press in Vienna.

Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn’t create radioactive waste.

Proponents of nuclear fusion hope it could one day displace fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources. But producing carbon-free energy that powers homes and businesses from fusion is still decades away.

A successful nuclear fusion was first achieved by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California last December in a major breakthrough after decades of work.

Granholm also praised the role of the Vienna-based United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog in verifying that states live up to their international commitments and do not use their nuclear programmes for illicit purposes, including to build nuclear weapons.

“The IAEA is instrumental in making sure that nuclear is harnessed for good and that it does not fall into the hands of bad actors,” she said.

The watchdog organisation has agreements with more than 170 states to inspect their nuclear programmes. The aim is to verify their nuclear activities and nuclear material and to confirm that it is used for peaceful purposes, including to generate energy.

Nuclear energy is an essential component of the Biden administration’s goal of achieving a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net zero emissions economy by 2050.

Asked about the difficulty of finding storage sites for radioactive waste, Granholm said that the US has initiated a process to identify communities across the country who may be willing to host an interim storage location. Currently, most of the spent fuel is stored at nuclear reactors across the country.

“We have identified 12 organisations that are going to be in discussion with communities across the country about whether they are interested (in hosting an interim site),” she said.  The US currently does not recycle spent nuclear fuel but other countries, including France, already have experience with it.

Spent nuclear fuel can be recycled in such a way that new fuel is created. But critics of the process say it is not cost-effective and could lead to the proliferation of atomic weapons.

There are two proliferation concerns associated with recycling, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association: The recycling process increases the risk that plutonium could be stolen by terrorists, and second, those countries with separated plutonium could produce nuclear weapons themselves.

“It has to be done very carefully with all these non-proliferation safeguards in place,” Granholm said.

Director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Dennis Whyte said the US has taken a smart approach on fusion by advancing research and designs by a range of companies working toward a pilot-scale demonstration within a decade.

“It doesn’t guarantee a particular company will get there, but we have multiple shots on goal,” he said, referring to the Energy Department’s milestone-based fusion development programme. “It’s the right way to do it, to support what we all want to see: commercial fusion to power our society” without greenhouse gas emissions.

TOKYO (AP) – Asian shares mostly sank yesterday over worries about a possible United States (US) government shutdown and the troubled Chinese economy.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 1.0 per cent in afternoon trading to 32,357.25.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.5 per cent to 7,044.90. South Korea’s Kospi dropped nearly 1.3 per cent to 2,463.63. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.9 per cent to 17,576.83, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.2 per cent to 3,109.69.

Investors are watching for Chinese economic indicators being released later in the week.

“The Chinese property woes are far from over, as the notorious developer Evergrande defaulted on its CNY4 billion onshore bond repayment and delayed the restructuring meetings,” said Tina Teng, market analyst at CMC Markets APAC & Canada.

Wall Street clawed back some of its steep losses from last week. The S&P 500 rose 17.38, or 0.4 per cent, to 4,337.44, coming off its worst week in six months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 43.04, or 0.1 per cent, to 34,006.88, and the Nasdaq composite gained 59.51, or 0.5 per cent, to 13,271.32.

Realisation is sinking in that the Federal Reserve will likely keep interest rates high well into next year. The Fed is trying to ensure high inflation gets back down to its target, and it said last week it will likely cut interest rates in 2024 by less than earlier expected. Its main interest rate is at its highest level since 2001. The growing understanding that rates will stay higher for longer has pushed yields in the bond market up to their highest levels in more than a decade.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration announced on Monday that it has awardedmore than USD1.4 billion to projects that improve railway safety and boost capacity, with roughly USD1 billion of the money coming from the 2021 infrastructure law.

“These projects will make American rail safer, more reliable, and more resilient, delivering tangible benefits to dozens of communities where railroads are located, and strengthening supply chains for the entire country,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.

The money is funding 70 projects in 35 states and Washington, DC. Railroad safety has become a key concern nationwide ever since a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed and caught fire in East Palestine, Ohio, in February.

President Joe Biden has ordered federal agencies to hold the train’s operator Norfolk Southern accountable for the crash, but a package of proposed rail safety reforms has stalled in the Senate where the bill is still awaiting a vote. The White House is also saying that a possible government shutdown because of House Republicans would undermine railway safety.

The projects include track upgrades and bridge repairs, in addition to improving the connectivity among railways and making routes less vulnerable to extreme weather.

Among the projects is USD178.4 million to restore passenger service in parts of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi along the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

“This is a significant milestone, representing years of dedicated efforts to reconnect our communities after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina,” Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss, said in a statement.

“Restoring passenger rail service will create jobs, improve quality of life, and offer a convenient travel option for tourists, contributing to our region’s economic growth and vitality.”

The grant should make it possible to restore passenger service to the Gulf Coast after Amtrak reached an agreement with CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads last year to clear the way for passenger trains to resume operating on the tracks the freight railroads own.

“We’ve been fighting to return passenger trains to the Gulf Coast since it was knocked offline by Hurricane Katrina. That 17-year journey has been filled with obstacles and frustration,” Rail Passengers Association President and CEO Jim Mathews said.

The single biggest grant – nearly USD202 million – will help eliminate seven rail crossings in California as part of the larger project to build a high-speed rail line in that state.