Our intrepid reporter files another update from the ANS Winter Meeting.

Our intrepid reporter files another update from the ANS Winter Meeting.

Snow day

Your reporter has been tramping around chilly Washington, DC, beset by an unseasonable early snow storm on Saturday. At the American Nuclear Society Winter Meeting, aptly named this year, I'm collecting observations, rumors, and raw random data, throwing out the rumors and keeping the rest to post here. This will be a daily feature through Wednesday of this week.

The American Nuclear Society's Public Education Program launched the ANS Winter 2011 Meeting and Nuclear Technology Expo with a one-day teacher workshop on Saturday, October 29, in Washington, DC. The workshop-Detecting Radiation in Our Radioactive World-is designed for science educators (including biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, physical science, life science, environmental, and general science teachers) at the high school and middle school levels. The workshop was held prior to the ANS Winter Conference, October 30-November 3, 2011.

 We are just a few days away from the 2011 Young Professionals Congress, taking place during the ANS Winter Meeting next week in Washington, DC. We have many exciting and informative sessions scheduled for the meeting-informational sessions on important current topics, workshops, and interactive skills sessions (to find out more, see Nuclear Cafe posts 9-21 and  8-30).

Eric Loewen, president of the American Nuclear Society, on October 13 visited the new ANS Student Section at The City College of New York (CCNY). Loewen presented talks on "Fukushima and the Role of Past Severe Accident Research" and "The American Nuclear Society President's Special Committee on Used Nuclear Fuel Management Options" to an audience of more than 50 faculty members and students. (Loewen's previous visit to CCNY, in February 2011, is detailed here).

The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is undergoing a refueling outage. For most plants, the situation would be business as usual.  The state of Vermont, however, believes it has the power to shut down Vermont Yankee in March 2012, even though the plant has a 20-year license extension from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In order to continue operations at Vermont Yankee, Entergy (the plant's owner and operator) has sued the state.

ANS Social Media Meet Up November 1 at ANS Winter Conference

For a while in the early 1990s, my work at Nuclear News magazine included coverage of Washington, D.C.  Eight or ten times a year, I'd spend two or three days in our nation's capital, attending congressional hearings, interviewing bigwigs, pestering agencies to give me copies of arcane documents, and frantically taking notes in public meetings at the headquarters of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In recent weeks I have been excited to witness several genuine grassroots efforts in support of nuclear energy emerging on the scene. Several have already been covered on this forum, like the Rally for Vermont Yankee and the Webinar collaboration by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the American Nuclear Society. Both of these efforts proved to be very successful in bringing together nuclear supporters and gaining attention from the mainstream media.

Just a reminder that the September/October issue of Radwaste Solutions is available in hard copy and electronically for American Nuclear Society members (must enter ANS user name and password in Member Center). The issue is devoted to environmental remediation, and contains the following feature articles:

American Nuclear Society President Eric Loewen discusses the benefits of nuclear energy in this news clip, filmed in conjunction with a speaking trip to Virginia Commonwealth University.

A collaborative effort between the American Nuclear Society and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission resulted in a successful 90-minute webinar on nuclear safety issues on October 4.

REMINDER:

The American Nuclear Society's Public Education Program will be sponsoring a one-day teacher workshop on Saturday, October 29, in Washington, DC. The workshop-Detecting Radiation in Our Radioactive World-is intended for science educators (including biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, physical science, life science, environmental, and general science teachers) at the high school and middle school levels. The workshop will be held prior to the ANS Winter Conference, October 30-November 3, 2011.

The 2011 Young Professionals Congress (YPC 2011) is coming, and the time to register is now! YPC 2011 is an embedded topical of the American Nuclear Society Winter Meeting in Washington, DC, October 30-November 3, 2011. YPC2011 is the fourth YPC, and the second to be held as an embedded topical in parallel with the ANS Winter Meeting.

The September issue of Nuclear News is available in hard copy and electronically for American Nuclear Society members (must enter ANS user name and password in Member Center). The issue contains a variety of features, including:

ANS President Eric Loewen on September 14 conducted a whirlwind one-day speaking tour in Idaho. While there, Loewen held a discussion/seminar with the Idaho State University ANS Student Section and presented at the dinner banquet of the 2011 Test, Research and Training Reactors (TRTR) Annual Conference, which was co-sponsored by the Idaho ANS Local Section.

As part of a Colorado speaking tour, American Nuclear Society President Eric Loewen visited the ANS student section at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) on Wednesday, August 24. More than 30 students and two faculty members attended his talk, and later that evening 17 students and two faculty members were among the attendees at the Colorado ANS local section meeting.