Clean Energy Insight - Moving Energy Forward

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How often do you think about where the electricity you use to power your lights, computer and television comes from? Chances are not often, if ever.

This past October, the Michigan American Nuclear Society hosted an essay contest as part of Careers in Energy Week asking high school students to do just that. The “Get into Nuclear Energy” essay contest targeted raising awareness of nuclear energy careers among Michigan high school students. The contest asked students to explain why nuclear energy workers have and continue to improve our local communities. The contest, which was funded by an Entergy Nuclear grant, awarded the first, second, and third place winners with an iPad, iTouch, and iPod Nano, respectively. The contest also awarded the schools with the highest percentage of participation with a monetary donation to their science department.

The contest ran over a two-week period and resulted in the society receiving over 400 essays. The contest winners were spread across the state and even into the Upper Peninsula! The winning essays will be posted on our website. The first, second, and third place student winners are as follows:

1. Megan Locatis, Allegan High School;
2. Carolyn Payson, Battle Creek Math and Science Cetner;
3. Jessica Barjaktarovich, Macomb Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Here is a link to their essays.

The schools with the highest participation were:

• Big Bay De Noc High School,
• Columbia Central High School, and
• Charyl Stockwell Preparatory Academy.

Having read over 100 essays myself, I can say that I was immensely excited to see the amount of research and effort that the students and teachers put into exploring careers options in the nuclear field. The essays highlighted the important impact nuclear energy workers have on ensuring that our communities stay functional through both the production of electricity and philanthropic work. The overall goal of the contest was to expose high school students to careers in the nuclear sciences and hopefully spark an early interest in future career choices.

The Michigan American Nuclear Society is looking forward to hosting another essay contest to ring in National Nuclear Science Week. This time around the contest wil ask high school students to write a persuasive letter to their local Congressperson or Senator describing why nuclear energy should continue be a part of our national energy portfolio.

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During last week’s Young Professionals Congress, dozens participated in a new training activity designed to solicit tacit knowledge from experienced professionals. Members from both the American Nuclear Society’s Young Members Group (ANS-YMG) and North America Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) created this activity.

“This training was timely,” said Jennifer Varnedoe Chair of the ANS-YMG. “Many in the nuclear sector are nearing retirement and young professionals need to capture their tacit knowledge before they leave.”

Duncan Robinson, President of NA-YGN, said “that the young generation needs to take ownership and find ways to mitigate issues with knowledge transfer.” They will be the stakeholders that will have to deal with the ramifications if this is done poorly.

Finding ways to improve the capturing of knowledge was a goal for the developers of this training. “Many times, all it takes is for a young professional to ask for information,” said Michael Hope, one of the NA-YGN training developers.

The Power of Question Asking taught participants how to ask open ended questions to gain tacit knowledge. The participants practiced this skill by asking questions to five facilitators while playing a competitive game where the goal was to see who could complete a Lego construction project the fastest. Participants had to ask the facilitators for help because they weren’t provided all of the instructions to complete the Lego log cabin.

The five facilitators roll played different characters to allow participants the opportunity to practice formulating open ended questions for different audiences which added a layer of difficulty. Peter Caracappa, Chair of the 2012 Young Professionals Congress Embedded Topical, said “it was amazing to see the participants trying to formulate open ended questions. It was obvious during the training that this is a skill that the young generation must cultivate.”

NA-YGN and the ANS-YMG plan to make the lesson plan and Lego kits available for use at future meetings.

North American Young Generation in Nuclear is a professional society for those working in nuclear science and technology; they have 8,500 members and 96 local chapters. The Young Members Group is a technical group of the American Nuclear Society with over 1,000 members.

Peter Carracapa KT&R DLA Facilitator describes his role in the activity

KT&R DLA Participant describes his experience

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North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) recently held their 13th Annual “Roddy Nuclear” Drawing contest all over North America.  Roddy Nuclear is a nuclear fuel pellet cartoon character who can fit into the palm of a child’s hand.  In fact, Roddy provides as much energy as almost two-thousand pounds of coal and 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas!

NA-YGN members used Roddy’s adventures to present the benefits of nuclear energy to over 1,000 4th and 5th grade students in this year’s contest.  The theme for the contest was “Roddy Nuclear Powers the World.“  Students were asked to submit drawings inspired by the theme and what they learned during the presentations.

NA-YGN would like to thank all of it’s participating members along with all of the educators who contributed to the success of this year’s contest.  Now, we just have to pick a winner!

Click here to vote for the winner:

2011 NA-YGN Drawing Contest Voting

The voting deadline is January 13th, 2012.

The winners (1st place, Runner-up, First Runner up) will be announced during National Nuclear Science Week — January 23rd, 2012.

Click HERE to view last year’s 2010 Drawing Contest Winners.

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On November 1, 2011, several North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) members attended the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) public meeting for the potential restart of Dominion Power’s North Anna Power Station (NAPS). The purpose of the meeting was for the NRC and Dominion to provide members of the public with the status of inspections and current information for NAPS after the August 23rd earthquake in Mineral, VA.

Dominion Energy's North Anna Nuclear Power Station

The first half of the meeting allowed Dominion and the NRC to discuss their findings. To date, neither Dominion nor the NRC has identified any significant damage to essential safety systems of NAPS. Inspections and reviews continue to ensure the safety of the plants prior to restart. No date has yet been targeted for restart of the plants.

The second half of the meeting involved public commentary and questions for the NRC and Dominion. Public responses and questions varied, but several audience members indicated mistrust of Dominion and the NRC to ensure the safety of the power plant. The telling moment of NA-YGN’s presence occurred when one member of the audience questioned whether Dominion had paid individuals to come-out wearing t-shirts and buttons that advocated for nuclear power. There was a loud response of “NO” from the crowd and a cynical rebuttal from the questioning individual: “I guess you all must just be fans of nuclear power.”

As hard as it may be for some to understand, there are people that are proud to show support for nuclear power.