ANS Nuclear Cafe

The needs of the young generation were discussed at length at this year's ANS Annual Meeting. Conversations took place at the Young Members Group meeting, student events, and most notably, the "Young Blood-Integration and Retention of the Next Generation" panel sponsored by the ANS Operations and Power Division (OPD), organized by Gale Hauck. This panel included nearly a dozen young members in academia, the U.S. national laboratories, and the private sector who shared a number of their unique experiences and needs as new faces in the nuclear field.

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The 167th Carnival of Nuclear Energy has been posted today at Yes Vermont Yankee.  You can click here to see this latest edition.

A new time-lapse video shows early site preparation and containment vessel bottom head placement at the Plant Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Georgia. Two new nuclear power reactors are scheduled to begin operations at Plant Vogtle in 2017 and 2018. Along with two units under construction at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station in South Carolina, these will be the first new nuclear units built in the United States in the last three decades. Enjoy the show!

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has found itself thrust into the spotlight again over the last two weeks as a series of events at and around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station have triggered a large volume of negative press, government commentary, and regulatory backlash. The embattled utility clearly has its hands full on more than one front.

Prisoner's Dilemma is a famous example of game theory. You can look at this example in quite a few ways. I especially think of this game when I am thinking about Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTRs) and advanced and non-traditional reactor development.

Make plans now to attend the American Nuclear Society's LWR Fuel Performance/ TopFuel 2013 Conference, to be held at the beautiful Westin Charlotte Hotel in the picturesque energy hub city of Charlotte, N.C., on September 15-19.

The 166th edition of the Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up right now at The Hiroshima Syndrome.  Click here to access this latest multi-faceted edition.

It's hot out! Across much of the United States, the largest heat wave of the summer has been stagnating all week.

In this post I will expand on some of the themes I've been discussing in several previous posts-concerning what's really needed to bring down nuclear's costs, allow it to grow in the future, and contribute to reductions in CO₂ emissions and air pollution.

Yes, indeed, you do have one. It's rather surprising that many people simply don't realize that radiation exists naturally all around us, and is part of our everyday lives-whether we are aware or not.

In this delightful video montage, meeting photographer Suzy Hobbs Baker takes us on a trip back to the people and events of the 2013 American Nuclear Society Annual Meeting. A big thank you to all attendees for your outstanding service in advancing the benefits of nuclear science and technology, and in making this meeting such a successful event.

The 165th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at Rick Maltese's blog "Deregulate the Atom."  Click here to see this latest edition.

This is a simply excellent video on nuclear energy for a wide audience. How much and how well can one person communicate on nuclear energy in less than 90 seconds? Click play to find out:

NuScale SMR on trailer; courtesy NuScale Power

In the wake of the Department of Energy's first funding award to Generation mPower for construction of small modular reactor (SMR) plants at the Clinch River Site earlier this year, other groups have begun to form to bolster the position of other SMR technologies-namely, the Westinghouse SMR, the Holtec SMR-160, and the NuScale Power SMR.

Richard K. Lester, head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was interviewed on National Public Radio's "Here & Now" program on Monday, July 8.  In this 15-minute segment, Lester gives his views on what's happening in nuclear energy now in the United States and worldwide. Are we at the end of nuclear power? Or at the beginning?

The legislative process, at all levels in the United States, is how public policy is created and implemented. These policies affect everyone's life, like it or not. For those concerned about critical issues, and anxious to affect the outcomes, getting inside this process is vital.

The 164th Carnival of Nuclear Energy is up right now at Next Big Future.  Click here to see this latest assemblage of pro-nuclear reporting and analysis.

The July 2013 edition of the technical journal Nuclear Technology is available electronically and in hard copy for American Nuclear Society member subscribers and others.

The July 2013 edition of the technical journal Fusion Science and Technology is available electronically and in hard copy for American Nuclear Society member subscribers and others.