Hi folks, Steve Skutnik here-you may know me from The Neutron Economy blog. I'm also currently an assistant professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee. I'll be here with Suzy Hobbs-Baker (of PopAtomic Studios) and Laura Scheele live-blogging the public hearing on the use of surplus weapons plutonium in MOX fuel. I've also got a healthy contingent of eager students from the University of Tennessee here as well, eager to speak up for the nonproliferation benefits of disposing of surplus plutonium in MOX fuel.

WHO:          

On August 16, G. Ivan Maldonado, PhD, Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering with the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, attended a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Board Meeting on behalf of the American Nuclear Society to present comments on the use the of mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel technology to accomplish the timely disposition of surplus weapons-grade plutonium.

When the heat released by nuclear fission is used in a steam plant to produce mechanical power, the second law of thermodynamics dictates that a large part of the heat must be rejected to the environment. Most land-based nuclear plants reject heat by using cooling water from a river or ocean.

The 121st weekly Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at Next Big Future.

Running a nuclear reactor is so easy that undergraduates can do it. And they do, at the research reactor at Reed College in Portland, Oregon (by the way, that's where Steve Jobs went to school).

Government auditor cites lack of regulatory independence and says overall effectiveness is weak

Labor Day is the traditional marking point for the end of summer-and time for back-to-school activities for K-12 students. Back to School season also provides an opportunity to help students understand the kind of work that nuclear engineers and scientists do. Your participation can interest a young person in pursuing an engineering career!

The 120th weekly Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at The Hiroshima Syndrome.

On Friday, August 31, Yes Vermont Yankee passed a milestone of 200,000 page views. Yes Vermont Yankee covers Vermont energy issues and favors the relicensing of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.

America's first new nuclear energy reactors in 30 years are currently under construction at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Burke County, Georgia.  The ANS Nuclear Matinee takes viewers behind the scenes of this amazing project (courtesy of Southern Nuclear Company who produced the excellent video updates).

The September 2012 edition of the technical journal Nuclear Technology is available electronically and in hard copy for American Nuclear Society member subscribers and others.

When I was registering for the various events scheduled to take place during the ANS Annual Meeting this past June, I was quite excited to see that one of the three technical tours would be at Exelon's Dresden Nuclear Station, not too far from downtown Chicago where the meeting was taking place. Luckily, I made the cut for attendance and was issued a ticket for the tour when I checked in at the meeting desk.

This year, and especially during these long tomato-filled days of August, I have been thinking a lot about happiness. Actually, I have been thinking even more about unhappiness.

The August 2012 edition of the technical journal Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) is available electronically and in hard copy for American Nuclear Society member subscribers and others.

The 119th weekly Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at Yes Vermont Yankee

NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission is scheduled for launch early on Thursday morning, August 30. How and why? An ANS Nuclear Cafe double feature matinee:

On Friday, March 11, 2011, one of the largest earthquakes in the recorded history of the world occurred on the east coast of northern Japan. The earthquake generated a major tsunami, causing nearly 20,000 deaths.

The August 2012 issue of Nuclear News is available electronically and in hard copy for American Nuclear Society members.