ANS Nuclear Cafe

We are quite aware today that a major force in delaying nuclear plant licensing has been the action of "intervenors" - persons, or more often groups pretending to act as concerned individuals, who attend open meetings, file motions, and start all sorts of legal proceedings intended to delay nuclear plants long enough that the owners decide to quit.  How did this all start?

Episode 22 of RadioNuclear is now available. In this episode, we discuss the recent miniseries "Chernobyl", which recently concluded on HBO. We debunk some of the more egregious articles written in the wake of the show (see links to these articles below). We also discuss good ways to engage with individuals who are captivated with the show, and not necessarily familiar with nuclear technology.

(This article was submitted in concert with a presentation given at the 2019 American Nuclear Society Annual Meeting entitled "Teaching the Value of Nuclear," and is the first of two articles on that presentation.)

American Nuclear Society's 2019 Annual Meeting kicked off today in Minneapolis. President John Kelly opened in the theme of this year's meeting, The Value of Nuclear. The meeting's host, Xcel Energy, committed to end the use of coal by 2030. Kelly pointed out, "that would be impossible without its reliable, well-run nuclear plants* right here in Minnesota."  He added that nuclear power is America's largest source of carbon-free energy and that nuclear energy is critical to any future reductions in the use of fossil fuels or lowering of emissions.

An impressive 42 representatives of nuclear societies around the world were in France in May 2019 to sign the Declaration of Clean Energy. ANS Past President Donald Hoffman represented  the U.S. and the American Nuclear Society. The goal of the Declaration is to push for nuclear-related R&D to allow nuclear energy to make its contribution towards deep decarbonization goals as part of a clean energy portfolio. Remember folks, "There is no deep decarbonization without nuclear." Enjoy the video!

ANS Washington rep Craig Piercy asks: "What's the role for ANS members in realizing the nuclear future?"  Why get involved in the American Nuclear Society? Why attend the meetings? Because getting involved and facing the challenges together gets our voices heard.  ANS members make it happen! Listen as Piercy and ANS member Brett Rampal talk about why it's important to be a part of the nuclear community. Find out more.

ANS Annual Meeting will take place this year from June 9 to13 in Minneapolis.  If you haven't registered yet, don't wait much longer. ANS meetings have a long list offerings for you. From incredible speakers, sessions, and tours to the networking opportunities that will amaze. Need more convincing about what ANS Meetings can do for you? Listen to ANS member Brett Rampal as he talks about why he finds the ANS meetings so incredibly valuable.

Well here it is- Episode 21! This episode we deviate from the norm as it is news-free. This special podcast features ANS Past President and Fellow, United Nuclear Industry Alliance (UNI) Chairman of the Board, and President & CEO of EXCEL Services Corporation Donald Hoffman, along with UNI Executive Director, former President & CEO of Unistar Nuclear Energy, and the chair of this special session Greg Gibson. Listen as they discuss a new and ongoing interactive series of Supply Chain Special Sessions focusing on the next generation of supply chain innovation-a new business road map for the supply chain, domestic and international. This inaugural event will take place at the upcoming ANS Annual Meeting in Minneapolis on Tuesday, June 11.

Roughly six years ago, I wrote an article for ANS Nuclear Cafe entitled "The Hook-Ons," which covered small nuclear plants that were added (or "hooked") onto existing or purpose-built cooperative fossil fired plants.  That idea continues to receive attention today as we think about converting various fossil powered things to nuclear.  I say "things" because these might be power plants, chemical plants, factories, or anything else.  In recalling this article recently though, I thought about another aspect of those days of wide nuclear enthusiasm and construction - what about add-ons?  Let's take a look.

With the publication of the above WASH 1174-74, which was "The Nuclear Industry" for the year 1974 (and which was published in late Fall, 1974) a twelve year era ended.  This was the final publication of this important series, which launched in 1962 and thus covered the entire period of the rapid growth of nuclear energy in this country.

Thank you for joining us on Episode 20 of RadioNuclear! In this episode, we discuss the news of the NRC's decision to issue a design certification license for the APR1400 and the monumental effort and process of getting a reactor through design certification process. We cover the recent and unfortunate news regarding the future of nuclear from Southern Company. There may also be a possible lifeline for the VC Summer project?  We also take a minute to discuss a video from friend of the show Dr. Georg Steinhauser on a recent fishing trip to the cooling ponds of Chernobyl.

The Accident

On Episode 19 of RadioNuclear, we discuss the success the Chinese have had with the Hualong One reactor, the decommissioning of SEFOR, and the sale of Indian Point units to Holtec and what it means for the industry. We also talk about a recent Bloomberg article casting nuclear as being susceptible to climate change.

Saving our planet. That's the principal reason I applied to become the 2018 ANS Glenn T. Seaborg Nuclear Science and Engineering Policy Congressional Fellow.  After I applied, interviewed and was selected, I was invited to work in the office of Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio's 9^th District), who is now in her 19th term in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Kaptur was honored late last year for becoming the longest-serving woman in the House.  This was a fortuitous pairing, as Congresswoman Kaptur is a longtime advocate for American energy independence and now chairs the Appropriation Committee's Energy and Water Development Subcommittee. There was hardly an appointment that had more potential for me to learn the role of policy in our energy future.

Nuclear energy is perhaps mankind's ultimate technical achievement. (Big Rock Point photo from Consumers Power brochure in my collection.)

The upcoming American Nuclear Society Annual Meeting in June has, as its theme, "The Value of Nuclear."  I am aware that this phrase covers many different things felt by many different people; I'd like to tell you what it means to me.

In April, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) hosted the annual ANS Student Conference in Richmond, VA. At its core, the student conference is exactly what it sounds like, a conference for students. The conference has everything that one would find at the winter and annual meetings, including technical sessions, panels, poster sessions, and industry partners. This conference, however, is organized and attended primarily by students and is hosted at the heart of a college campus.

This week we have two wonderful, historic but short features that focus in on Idaho National Laboratory and some of the remarkable achievements that this storied site has accomplished.

RadioNuclear Episode 18 is now up! We talk about new legislation in Ohio that may help save the ailing nuclear power plants in their state, discuss the new bi-partisan federal legislation aimed at helping America regain its leadership with advanced nuclear, learn about some interesting new nuclear power plant construction around the world, and talk to three members of the American Nuclear Society's professional engineering committee to discuss the merits of obtaining the PE.

Looking at the news every day these days, remembering of course that algorithms collate content for me quite often on various platforms, it seems that there's some considerable momentum growing for nuclear energy here in the United States.  What's troubling is that while there is a growing sense of urgency, I also see a continued, repeated focus in far too many articles on 'probably in ten years' technologies.  If there's really an urgency, it seems probable that looking to the next hill is ridiculous while we're getting ready to die on this one.  If we really do need urgency, what do we do?  Here are a few suggestions - feel free to add some constructive or additional ideas in the comments.

Alyse Huffman is at work in the office of the U.S. House of Representatives Commit­tee on Science, Space, and Technology as the 2019 ANS Glenn T. Seaborg Congressio­nal Fellow. ANS News checked in with Huffman in late February, during her seventh week on the job.