I teach students of engineering. Many of them (although certainly not all) prefer logarithms to literature and algebra to anthropology. No doubt they get a fair share of that in my classes, but I try to include a bit of history whenever I can.

The Society opens its 9^th international section

Zuckerberg

When Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in 2004, it can be assumed that he did not imagine himself becoming Time's 2010 Person of Year;  he simply wanted to make friends. As a member of the generation that has fully embraced the use of Facebook, I can proclaim that social networking has become a strong part of how I develop my connections with those I meet, both inside and outside the nuclear industry. That Facebook exists only so that teenagers can post whatever floats into their heads-as some Facebook detractors believe-is a huge misconception. On the contrary, I hope that this post helps to explain why we must use social networking sites such as Facebook to our advantage in the new era of nuclear power and technology.

By  Suzanne Hobbs

The View from Vermont

Happy Groundhog Day! This doesn't actually count as a holiday, but at the very least it is the one day each year that every American can devote to the contemplation of quantum physics. Can there be any bigger fun than that?

Eric Loewen, the American Nuclear Society's vice president/president-elect, appeared on the Fox News Charlotte (North Carolina) television show on January 28 to promote new nuclear energy as part of the push in the United States for clean energy technologies.

Excelsior College on Wednesday, January 26, is hosting a webinar, Can the U.S. Catch the World in the Nuclear Power Race? which will bring together scholars and nuclear technology practitioners from across the United States for a panel discussion on the subject matter. The event is being held in conjunction with National Nuclear Science Week.

National Nuclear Science Week, January 24-28, is underway across the United States and is being promoted in Minnesota with activities that include tours of PaR Nuclear's facility, a student essay competition, and trivia contests.

On Saturday, January 22, the Chicago ANS Local Section launched the activities for National Nuclear Science week a day early by presenting a student nuclear science workshop, hosted by the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (MSI).  Chicago MSI-the largest science museum in the western hemisphere-included the workshop as part of the Scientist at Work series, in which high school science achievers learn about different science disciplines and career paths.

Eric Loewen, the American Nuclear Society's vice president/president-elect, appeared on the Good Day Columbia (South Carolina) television show on the morning of January 21 to discuss nuclear energy technologies and nuclear-related activities in South Carolina.

At a session on educational programs during a recent ANS meeting, a fairly new graduate student in nuclear engineering described a nuclear survey course that he had taken at his university. The graduate student had not studied nuclear engineering as an undergrad, and when he said, "I had never really heard of Chernobyl before I took this course," you could almost hear an audible gasp among the more, well, mature members of the audience.

A few months ago, I had the honor of leading a class of future engineering leaders at Iowa State University. The dean, Dr. Jonathan Wickert, occasionally asks alums and others who have done interesting things with their engineering degrees to come in and lead the class in a case study. Events in the Gulf of Mexico that started in April 2010 with the Macondo oil spill provided an excellent opportunity to talk about crisis management and communications, with the added benefit of current technology relevance. This is an area that the nuclear industry also needs to study and understand.

By  Suzanne Hobbs

The January issue of Nuclear News has been published and mailed to American Nuclear Society members, and is available electronically to members. The issue contains a special section on education, training, and workforce issues. Features include:

ANS sponsors or cosponsors the following upcoming meetings:

Can renewables rescue us?

Part 2 of this article, which appeared here on December 29, made the point (in part) that the nuclear power industry sequesters its nuclear "waste," while other power producing industries do not. This capturing of waste products matters when calculating the external costs of energy technologies.

The often-ignored difference maker

Having recently attended a Pillsbury and Nuclear Energy Institute seminar on "Export Controls for the Nuclear Renaissance," it became clear to me why the United States is losing its leadership position in nuclear energy:  The bureaucracy is winning the war over effectiveness of policy and nonproliferation.

At the American Nuclear Society's 2010 Winter Conference & Technology Expo, its Board of Directors revised and approved two position statements that are now available online (click here):