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The Sandia National Labs Chapter of NA-YGN actively promoted National Nuclear Science Week (January 24th - 28th).  Activities were planned at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History for the “Getting to Know Nuclear,” “Energy Career Day,” “Energy Generation Day” and “Safety Day.”  Sandia Corporation provided transportation for up to 250 kids to travel to museum each day of the week. 

Each child was provided with a Dum Dum sucker relating the size of the sucker to the amount of U-235 needed to power their lives; in addition each child was given a name tag that stated I’m naturally radioactive!  Each day consisted of activities related to that day’s theme as well as the general principles of nuclear engineering - below is an overview of our activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Getting to Know Nuclear (co hosted with the local ANS section) - Geiger counters, calculating annual radiation dose, mouse trap and dominos to explain chain reactions, vandegraff generator
• Career Day - we had several stations explaining careers in nuclear and contrasting them to the “tv” version of nuclear careers, i.e. Homer Simpson vs. a real power plant Operator.
• Energy Generation Day - in addition to the general stations from day one we had a station where kids could learn how a power plant works and act out the different parts of a nuclear power plant, we also explained the principles of fission using a balloon activity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Safety Day - we added activities to explain the difference between beta, gamma, and alpha particles and how they penetrate materials, we also had tyvex suits for each of the kids to dress up like a rad worker and understand how we protect ourselves when working with hazard materials.

All in all, we outreached to over 700 kids from 12 different schools in the area, ranging from 5th grade to seniors in high school.  It was a great experience working with the museum to provide activities that would support nuclear.  Over 15 NA-YGNers gave up at least half a day of work to volunteer their time.

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Nearly 1,000 elementary school students were introduced to nuclear power during this year’s Annual Drawing Contest, themed “Roddy Nuclear is the Power of the Future”. Roddy (a nuclear fuel pellet) was the star of classroom presentations where NA-YGN chapter representatives taught 4^th and 5^th grade students about the benefits of nuclear power and the role it plays in meeting our future energy needs.

Following each presentation, students were encouraged to draw posters that exemplified this year’s theme. Thirty schools were represented amongst the entries received. Finalists were chosen, and the winning drawings were selected by participants of the 2010 NRC National Convention in November.

The three winning artists have been notified and will receive a science kit, NA-YGN honorary membership and t-shirt, and a set of nuclear science books for their school’s library. The first-place winner will also receive a set of books of their very own!

Thank you to all chapters who made this event a success. Your dedication to public outreach has no-doubt sparked an interest in science and energy production in tomorrow’s “young generation”.

First Place

Runner Up

 

Third Place

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The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) has posted a new section to their website dedicated to inform the 112th US Congress about nuclear energy and electricity:

http://www.nei.org/112thcongress/

This new section condenses the main talking points about nuclear energy, such as economic benefits, with which members of congress might be concerned.  In addition to providing a basic education for congress, the information in this section can be used by proponents of nuclear, like you and me, to inform the public about nuclear in a clear and concise way. I encourage everyone to explore the new section of this site to brush up on the main talking points surrounding nuclear energy.

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January 24^th through the 28^th of 2011 marks the second National Nuclear Science week in the United States.  Initiated in 2010, the last week of January is set aside to celebrate the important role nuclear science plays in our lives.

In addition, National Nuclear Science Week is designed to recognize the contributions of the nuclear science industry and those who work in it every day.   Each day will provide for learning about the contributions, innovations and opportunities that can be found by exploring nuclear science:

Monday (1/24/11) - Getting to Know Nuclear,

Tuesday (1/25/11) - Careers in Nuclear,

Wednesday (1/26/11) - Energy Generation,

Thursday (1/27/11) - Safety,

Friday (1/28/11) - Nuclear Medicine

People around the United States are encouraged to participate in themed activities for each day.  Local American Nuclear Society Section, North American Young Generation in Nuclear Sections, Power Plants, and schools will be hosting events around the country.  Events will be held all week long at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque New Mexico, the kickoff location for NNSW. 

More information can be found at http://www.nuclearscienceweek.org/ or look us up on Facebook and “like” us!

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January 24^th through the 28^th of 2011 marks the second National Nuclear Science week in the United States.  Initiated in 2010, the last week of January is set aside to celebrate the important role nuclear science plays in our lives.

In addition, National Nuclear Science Week is designed to recognize the contributions of the nuclear science industry and those who work in it every day.   Each day will provide for learning about the contributions, innovations and opportunities that can be found by exploring nuclear science:

Monday (1/24/11) - Getting to Know Nuclear,

Tuesday (1/25/11) - Careers in Nuclear,

Wednesday (1/26/11) - Energy Generation,

Thursday (1/27/11) - Safety,

Friday (1/28/11) - Nuclear Medicine

People around the United States are encouraged to participate in themed activities for each day.  Local American Nuclear Society Section, North American Young Generation in Nuclear Sections, Power Plants, and schools will be hosting events around the country.  Events will be held all week long at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque New Mexico, the kickoff location for NNSW. 

More information can be found at http://www.nuclearscienceweek.org/ or look us up on Facebook and “like” us!

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The NA-YGN Southeast Regional Conference, being held this year in New Orleans on November 18th-19th, will be co-hosting a nuclear energy debate at Tulane University, with co-sponsors the Tulane Energy Institute and the Tulane Energy Club. The debate will feature two nuclear proponents and two nuclear opponents. Currently scheduled to speak for the pro-nuclear side are William “Bill” Carney, former congressman from New York, and Eric Olsen, General Manager of Plant Operations at Riverbend Station. Currently scheduled for anti-nuclear side is Myron Katz, nominee for Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District.

The debate will allow each side to give a brief opening statement and then will follow with questions posed to the debaters by members of the audience. This event is free and open to the public and will be held at the Lavin-Bernick Center in the Kendall Cram Lecture Hall on Tulane’s campus. The debate will begin at 7:00 Pm and will end at 8:30 PM. For more information please visit the website at http://www.se-ygn.org/debate/ or contact Patrick Mason at pmason1@entergy.com

Here is a link to the debate flyer: Tulane/NA-YGN Nuclear Debate Flyer

Besides the debate, the conference also has a plant tour of the Waterford 3 plant planned and several presentations from a variety of speakers around the nuclear industry including Entergy, TVA, NEI, Westinghouse, AREVA, B&W Nuclear, PSEG Power, Southern Company, and the Shaw Group.

 

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On September 15th and 16th, 2010, sixteen (16) NA-YGN members from AREVA offices in Charlotte, NC, Bethesda, MD, Fort Worth, TX, Lynchburg, VA and Marlborough, MA attended an NA-YGN “Hill Day” Event on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Prior to the trip, our NA-YGN sponsors and governmental affairs officials at AREVA, hosted several presentations that shared perspectives and prepared our NA-YGN members on effective ways to communicate with legislators on nuclear power issues.  Among those presenting–NA-YGN member Erik Haas, who has extensive experience in governmental affairs, helped prepare other members for the challenge ahead.

Alan Hanson, AREVA Vice President of U.S. Back End (i.e. - used fuel management) spoke to the NA-YGN members about the current political situation regarding nuclear power. He touched on some of the key issues including the current status of the Congress-approved loan guarantees and the issue of nuclear waste management.

Thursday afternoon and Friday were spent attending the 17 scheduled meetings with their Congressmen or their Congressional Aides from the various districts represented by the NA-YGN membership who participated. In most cases, the meetings were attended by two to four NA-YGN members with one of those being the “lead” who would facilitate the discussion. Every NA-YGN member who participated had the opportunity to attend at least two meetings.

The key message to the legislators, according to NA-YGN members Tim Thomas and Craig Kelley, NA-YGN Co-Project Managers of this NA-YGN Hill Day event, was to help “influence to make policy which will benefit nuclear power. We stressed the importance of loan guarantees as the key to the nuclear renaissance. Nuclear power is going to create jobs in Virginia and all over the country. It should play a key role in our energy policy and can go a long way towards solving our country’s economic problems. The key to all of this is the loan guarantees.”

One of the key highlights from the trip was having Congressman Tom Perriello (D-VA) agree to send a letter to Dept. of Energy Secretary Chu and The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) urging them to award the loan guarantees.

Also, Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) has sent a letter to President Obama asking him to resolve the political hurdles preventing the loan guarantees and emphasizing the importance of the Calvert Cliffs project for Virginia’s economy and the nuclear industry as a whole.

Michael Wiley, Chair of NA-YGN Fort Worth, said “it was really interesting to see how the political side of our industry works. As engineers, we see the technical side and the direct results of our labors, but to communicate this and see how the political side works was very intriguing. It was a great experience to learn how to adapt our approach in order to communicate our stances on the issues as both constituents and engineers to politicians. It also proved a great opportunity to represent the industry, making persuasive arguments advocating nuclear power within the political machine, not just as an employee, but a representative of our generation in nuclear.”

NA-YGN members had a great experience at the Hill Day. “Overall,” Tim Thomas said, “I think it was a really positive experience for everyone. On one hand, professionally, it was really good for everyone to have the opportunity to meet with elected officials and a good chance to work on communication skills.  Also, it was a good experience to learn what it takes to get in touch with an elected official from the emails, letters, phone calls, and diligent follow up through to researching the representative to learn about them and finally tailor our message to them.”

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The NA-YGN Speaker’s Bureau stepped into the classroom on Monday. A sustainable energy class at CPCC in Charlotte, NC welcomed the group for their first presentation. The group spoke to the class about growing energy demands, how nuclear works, and our current and future energy portfolios. The group’s goal is to dispel myths and arm the public with unbiased facts about nuclear energy. The class was receptive to the presentation and asked some great questions. The group hopes to develop several more presentations and continue to find venues in which to speak. For the long term, other NA-YGN chapters and advocacy groups can simply adopt the prepared presentations.

Other NA-YGN chapters are spear heading advocacy initiatives as well… Check out what the chapter at Braidwood Nuclear Generation Station is doing:
http://www.cleanenergyinsight.org/category/advocacy/nuke101/

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I recently gave a presentation at the International Youth in Nuclear Conference (IYNC) in Cape Town, South Africa, on the key aspects of a successful young generation in nuclear organization.  Being that one of the new goals of Clean Energy Insight is to share information with the entire NA-YGN Organization, I’d like to share an abridged version of the presentation with you here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First off, the basics:

• What is a young generation in nuclear (YGN) organization?

A YGN chapter is an important tool for professional and personal growth for young members of the nuclear industry.  Here are some examples of YGN’s from around the world:

European Nuclear Society - http://www.euronuclear.org/welcome.htm

South African Young Nuclear Professionals -http://www.saynps.co.za/

North American Young Generation in Nuclear - http://na-ygn.org/index/index.html

I am a member of AREVA’s Charlotte, NC chapter of North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN).  NA-YGN’s Mission Statement is as follows:

“The mission of the North American - Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) is to unite young professionals who believe in Nuclear Science and Technology and are working together throughout North America to share their passion for a field that is alive and kicking.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NA-YGN activities around North America include:

• Uniting different sectors of nuclear science and technology.
• Representing  the interests and ideas of young nuclear professionals within the industry at industry gatherings and international conferences.
• Facilitating industry growth through  enhanced recruiting and retention.
• Public communication and education.
• Networking and professional development.

So, how can you create a successful YGN in your office?

By first focusing on three key areas (in order of importance):

Individual

promote individual growth and development of your colleagues’ personal and professional skill sets

Community

work to improve the local community through established and coordinated volunteering activities

Industry

if you improve the abilities and skills of your individual colleagues, and actively participate in community volunteering activities, the nuclear industry and your company will benefit in the long run

In my NA-YGN Chapter,  we accomplish these goals through what we have come up with as the keys to a successful chapter:

Keys to a Successful Chapter

Responsibility Leads to Leadership

Give everyone in your chapter a chance to lead by fostering their personal interests and skills.  Here is an organization chart of our NA-YGN committee members from our chapter in Charlotte: (Click image to enlarge)

Notice that we have many different positions.  There is no set organizational chart that every NA-YGN Chapter must follow.  We create these positions when a need is identified, or when an individual approaches the committee with a new idea on how they can help increase our effectiveness and visibility.  For example, we recently created our “International Liason” position this year in order to get more involved with some of our colleagues overseas.

We also started a “Civic Involvement Project” this past year.  With these new activities, our NA-YGN Chapter will attempt to advance the nuclear industry by educating the general public and policy makers on the benefits of nuclear energy.

Also notice that we have several “Co” positions.  We do this for several reasons.  One is that the position requires a lot of work and involvement that may be taxing on an individual, so we get another individual to help out and share responsibilities.  Another is that some positions require a year of training and turnover before an individual is expected to be able to fully take on the responsibilites that the position requires.

Opportunities to Grow

Provide opportunities for your colleagues to grow professionally and personally through some of the following activities:

Volunteering

List of 2009 Volunteering and Fundraising Activities:
Mathcounts Foundation
Boy Scout’s Explorers’ Post
Engineer’s Week (E-Week)
Regional Science Fair
Bridge Jobs
ASCE Carolina’s Conference
Ada Jenkins 5K Race and BBQ Competition 2009
United Way Day of Action
Second Harvest Food Bank
24 Hours of Booty
Salvation Army’s Center of Hope
American Heart Association’s Heart Walk 2009
Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure 2009
University of North Carolina at Charlotte Engineering Picnic
Florence Crittenton
Habitat for Humanity
Mock Interviews at UNC-Charlotte
Society of Women Engineers Etiquette Dinner
St. Jude Give Thanks Walk
Engineering Freshman Learning Committee at UNC-Charlotte
Mud Volleyball with Habitat for Humanity

Networking

Nuclear industry networking events include YGN annual conferences, professional group conferences and workshops like the American Nuclear Society (www.ans.org), and International Youth in Nuclear Congress (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Youth_Nuclear_Congress).

You can also coordinate networking activities with other NA-YGN Chapters in your area through social activites.

Social Activities

Another good way to develop the social and networking skills of your nuclear professionals include participating in or coordinating social activites.  Activities like these can truly benefit an industry known for having a wealth of engineers and scientists.

Some social activities that we participate in in Charlotte include events at the National Whitewater Center (http://www.usnwc.org/), bowling at Strike City Charlotte (http://strikecitycharlotte.com/), and go-karting at Victory Lane (http://www.377fast.com/).

Activities like these give your chapter a chance to kick back and get to know one another.  They also serve as an effective recruitment and retention tool for employees.

Pro-Nuclear Energy Advocacy Activities

Participating in pro-nuclear advocacy campaigns is another way to sharpen the public speaking and communications skill sets of your members.  In Charlotte, we have come up with a few different activities that do just that.

Speaker’s Bureau

Our “Speaker’s Bureau” is a group of individuals who are preparing a basic presentation that will hopefully educate the general public on the benefits of the cheapest, cleanest, safest, and most reliable form of energy–nuclear energy.  The current plan is to target local schools and community organizations.

Letter Writing Campaign

Our self-explanatory “Letter Writing Campaign” is an attempt to show pro-nuclear energy support to policy makers at the local, state, and national levels, as well as local and national media publications.

Plant Tour Initiative

Our “Plant Tour Initiative” is planning to invite policy-makers from all over the state to visit nuclear energy facilities in their districts.  This will allow the politicians to become familiar with what the industry is doing in their state.  In North Carolina, the nuclear industry is an important part of the economy.  We hope to educate our politicians on our continued safe operations that generate millions of dollars in revenue for the state on a yearly basis.

Opportunities to Learn

Our NA-YGN Chapter offers opportunities for our individual members to learn through what we call “Brown Bag Presentations.”  These presentations are held over lunch, and are given by experts from our own office or even from other companies around Charlotte.  Some of these brown bags include presentations on:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Digital Control Upgrades
• St. Lucie Steam Generator Replacement Outage Presentation
• Introduction to Nuclear Power and Nuclear Physics
• Design Basis vs. Licensing Basis, Licensing Documents, 10 CFR
• Codes and Standards
• Fundamentals of Seismic Design
• Piping Analysis and Support Restraint Design
• Technical Writing
• Materials Selection
• Human Factors Engineering
• Defending Nuclear - A Presentation on Advocacy
• Fire Protection Design
• Electrical Grid Overview
• Anchorage Design
• Welding and Welding Design
• Valves and Pumps
• Financial Planning Workshop Presented by Fidelity Investments

Professional Exposure

Civic Involvement

Encourage your members to get involved in promoting the nuclear industry in a number of arenas.  The picture below is from a trip that NA-YGN took to Capitol Hill during our National Conference in Washington DC.  We got to stand in during some Senate Energy Committee votes on some nuclear energy provisions in the 2009 cap-and-trade energy bill.

Conferences

Encourage and provide your members the opportunities to attend professional conferences like the annual NA-YGN Conference, American Nuclear Society conferences and Women in Nuclear Conferences.  The picture below is from the NA-YGN Annual Conference in San Francisco.  The theme was “Go Green.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speakers

It’s also good to give your members opportunities to get involved by hearing some of the leading pro-nuclear industry voices in the industry speak about current events.  Below is Patrick Moore, co-founder of GreenPeace, who is now one of the most prominent voices in the nuclear industry.  Mr. Moore is Co-Chair of the CASE Energy Coalition, a pro-nuclear organization (http://casenergy.org/).  When Mr. Moore is in town, be sure to notify your NA-YGN members of the opportunity to hear him speak.  Give them the chance to let him know what the young generation in the industry is doing to help foster the nuclear renaissance.

What’s Next for Professional Exposure?

The latest participation by my NA-YGN Chapter in professional exposure has been in the form of pro-nuclear advocacy on this website, Clean Energy Insight.  Mike Bloom and myself created this website in the Summer of 2009 to be a tool to help other young nuclear industry members to get involved with advocating their industry and reach out to the public on nuclear energy issues.

Currently, we are using Clean Energy Insight as a tool for NA-YGN members to:

1. Educate and raise awareness of nuclear power for the general public by dispelling myths, and putting nuclear facts into new and eye-opening perspectives.
2. Serve as an online tool for NA-YGN, i.e. sharing information like advocacy program experiences with other chapters.
3. Showcase NA-YGN activities that include volunteering, advocacy, and networking activities.
4. Personalize and re-vamp the public’s perception of the nuclear industry.

With the recent addition of almost 6,000 NA-YGN members to the potential field of contributors and supporters, Clean Energy Insight hopes to become a staple mouthpiece for the young generation’s ideas, actions, and accomplishments.

Here is an example of how we are presenting nuclear energy facts in new ways.  This image is from our “What Does Renewable Energy Look Like?” blog that compared land usage of nuclear to solar photovoltaic and wind energies.  As you can see, nuclear has the advantage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funding is Essential

Funding is essential for any functional NA-YGN Chapter.  Everything will cost you some amount of money, from sending people to International Youth in Nuclear conferences to buying soccer balls, cones, and water for a weekly after-work soccer game.  The way that NA-YGN secures funding is through company support.

At AREVA, we are fortunate to have extremely supportive executives that ensure that NA-YGN has the tools to develop our individual members’ skill sets and to promote the entire nuclear industry through activities like community volunteerism and pro-nuclear advocacy.

Without the help of our executive sponsors, our NA-YGN Chapter would not have the tools and encouragement that we need to have an effective and successful NA-YGN Chapter.

How to Guarantee Funding?

The best way to guarantee funding is to prove to your executive sponsors that you can effectively improve the skill sets of your colleagues involved in NA-YGN, improve your company’s visibility in the community, and consequently add value to your company and the nuclear industry as a whole.  By doing this, you will gain valuable executive sponsorship and support.

Our NA-YGN Chapter sets up a yearly meeting with our executive sponsors where we present our goals and expectations for the coming year.  This is done with a detailed plan on how we will execute these goals and what it will take to execute them.  After agreeing on an annual budget and a comprehensive Annual NA-YGN Chapter Plan, we do our best to keep our promises and raise the bar on our performance each year.

At the end of the year, we present our year-end results in a detailed End-of-Year Report to our executive sponsors.  Remember:

Success guarantees support.

Sample Chapter Goals

Here are a few examples of our Chapter Goals that have been presented in past NA-YGN annual plans:

• Reducing our yearly budget
• Increasing active membership (percentage of NA-YGN members actively involved in NA-YGN activities)
• Ensure more professional conference attendance
• Perform over 1,000 hours of community volunteer service
• Plan at least three (3) events with local NA-YGN Chapters
• Plan at least two (2) events with other AREVA NA-YGN Chapters

Setting precise goals that set the bar high, but are also reasonably achievable offer you the best way for your NA-YGN Chapter to be effective and successful.

Conclusion

A successful young nuclear professionals organization is one that is defined by involvement!

---

The author would like to acknowledge Dr. Landon Kanner, as well as past Co-Chairs of the AREVA NA-YGN Charlotte Chapter Juan “Jonny” Abendaño and Matt Santore for their contributions to this presentation.

Clean Energy Insight has created a Nuclear Energy Fact Sheet focused on New Nuclear Plants and their benefits.  I’ve attached the Fact Sheet for you to use in any way that you would like.  Attach it to a pro-nuclear letter you are sending your Congressman, or just send it to a colleague or friend.

Clean Energy Insight - New Nuclear Plant Fact Sheet 2010

Be heard.

Do you want to make a difference in the energy debate?

Do you want your voice to be heard all over the world?

Do you want to ensure that clean, safe, and reliable energy is being used?

Contribute to a pro-nuclear website that is doing all of the above.

Join us.

Email us at cleanenergyinsight@gmail.com to apply to be a regular contributor.

A North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) website.

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Exelon employees from the Braidwood Nuclear Generation Station outside of Chicago, Illinois recently changed the game when it comes to nuclear power advocacy in the United States.  Led by their North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) Chapter, Braidwood Generating Station has started a nuclear power education program called Nuke 101.

The program aims to educate 6th-12th grade teachers on nuclear power, in hopes that they will pass this knowledge on to their students–creating a more informed and educated generation of Americans when it comes to nuclear power.

Let’s hope that the Braidwood Generating Station NA-YGN Chapter continues this program into the future, and other NA-YGN Chapters can follow.  This is undoubtedly important to America’s nuclear energy future.

Teachers learn about nuclear energy during Nuke 101

By Jo Ann Hustis

BRACEVILLE – For Dr. Charles Birch, the nation’s pilot Nuke 101 program Saturday was almost a walk back in time with his late father.

“He was a maintenance electrician 41 years for Wisconsin Power, and so, as a kid, I had the chance to understand electrical power,” said Birch, instructor at Coal City Intermediate School and one of 16 area junior high and high school teachers participating in the instructional session, hands-on lab, and tour of the immensely secure Braidwood Generating Station.

“At that time, nuclear just began to become part of Wisconsin Electric Power, so this was a very personal experience for me. I couldn’t help but think of my father walking at my shoulder and saying, ‘Hey, this is something.’”

A first-of-its-kind educational opportunity in the U.S., Nuke 101 was the inspiration of Braidwood Station engineer Morgan Davis and the North American Young Generation in Nuclear chapter at the plant.

“Educating the educators,” station spokesman Neal Miller noted prior to taking the teachers through the giant concrete, two-unit generating station.

“The first time we’ve ever done this. We do plan on taking it to another level, learning what we can here to improve for the next time, and continue building on it.”

The pilot program’s goal was to teach teachers about nuclear power so they can take the information back to their students.

Most of the young engineering professionals at Braidwood Station started in nuclear science by chance. Davis, herself, was introduced to it by someone who invited her to tour a generating station.

“This is an opportunity for teachers to take the wealth of information (from Nuke 101) and pass it on to the younger generation,” Braidwood Site Vice President Amir Shahkarami noted.

Fran Ogden has taught chemistry classes at Seneca Township High School for many years.

All this time, she has lived with La Salle Generating Station in Brookfield Township practically in her backyard, but never visited a nuclear plant until Saturday.

“It’s something I wanted to learn about as much as I could to relay to the students,” Ogden said of her participation in Nuke 101. “We always try to help the students find a career, and this is definitely an area many of them could get involved in.”

When nuclear power came on the scene in 1972, there were 42 generating stations operating across the nation.

Today in the United States, there are 104 operating nuclear plants, supplying 20 percent of the power needed in the country, Shahkarami noted during the instructional portion of the session.

Worldwide, today, there are 439 operating nuclear reactors. Eighty percent of the power used in France is generated by nuclear plants.

Also, another 54 nuclear generating stations are under construction throughout the world today. South Korea alone has 20 operating nuclear plants and another six under construction. Taiwan is currently constructing one nuclear plant. The United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Japan are considering building nuclear plants.

China is building from 12 to 15 reactors into each of its nuclear plants.

“That’s massive,” Shahkarami said.

The maximum number of reactors in any nuclear station in the U.S. is two.

In the 1970s, the U.S. had the technology for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, but not today.

“France, Germany and Russia do have the technology,” Shahkarami noted. “They got it from us. But President Jimmy Carter said, in 1977, no to processing nuclear fuel.”

The United States’ biggest nuclear accident, at Three Mile Island, occurred in 1977. Six years later, the nation canceled construction of the 259 generating stations that were on order.

“Because they couldn’t control the cost of construction,” he said.

China is building a dozen nuclear plants at a time today. However, with the financial crisis in the United States , it doesn’t make sense to build nuclear plants here, Shahkarami said.

“But, how long can we depend on foreign power? We haven’t built a nuclear plant in the U.S. since the early 1980s,” he said.

The back end of the nuclear generating process is recycling. The country is looking for new ways of operating this process. Meanwhile, the nation is storing its spent fuel.

“Sometime, someone will come along with a viable idea for reprocessing spent fuel,” Shahkarami said.

In the United States today, there are two kinds of reactors – pressure and boiling water.

Fast-breeder reactors are not in use in the U.S. today. These are fast-neutron reactors designed to breed fuel by producing more fissile material than they consume.

“They are the type that eventually will reprocess nuclear fuel,” Shahkarami said.

He stressed the importance of spent nuclear fuel not getting into the hands of the unauthorized, especially terrorists.

“Because they can extract plutonium from it, and that’s what makes missiles,” he said.

Braidwood Station currently stores its nuclear waste in deepwater pools within the plant, and in dry cask storage on station property.

“Eventually the dry casks have to go somewhere,” Shahkarami said. “The latest reprocessing techniques eventually take the uranium and plutonium and burn them in the reactors.”

At the conclusion of the tour, Dr. Birch, a social science teacher, noted the Nuke 101 class should definitely be an annual offering to educators.

“We in education are educators for all disciplines, so I would want this to continue, and include grades K through 12,” he said.

“We have to recognize we teach students first, and then, in particular cases, a subject area. It’s a very important experience I think ought to be continued.”

( By Carrington Dillon ) [Approx. Read Time: 2.5 minutes]

The News & Advance from Lynchburg, VA recently provided a short re-cap of the recent Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Bill that passed in the House of Representatives.  In this article, the News & Advance noted that Nuclear Power wasn’t given its due in the Bill’s pages.  The newspaper from Virginia also encouraged readers to contact their Senators (Mark Warner and Jim Webb) and encourage them to revise the Senate version of the Bill to include more provisions that recognize that more Nuclear Power is needed for this country to gain energy independence and greenhouse gas reduction goals.  See the article here.

“As initially crafted by Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman, of California, and Edward Markey, of Massachusetts, HR 2454 contained no mention whatsoever of the role of nuclear power in America’s energy future. For a major piece of legislation designed to plot America’s 21st century energy roadmap and address concerns about climate change, that omission was shocking, to say the least…

…so far as nuclear energy is concerned, the bill is woefully lacking. Many people in the environmental community become apoplectic at the very mention of the word “nuclear,” with visions of Three Mile Island in their heads.

The bill is now in the hands of the U.S. Senate where, perhaps, more rational thinking will emerge.

For America to reach the energy goals set forth in the bill, especially those on carbon emissions and renewable generation, more power will have to be generated by nuclear plants. It’s that simple. The nation’s generating capacity is stretch to the limits today, with coal doing much of the heavy lifting. But coal is also the biggest source of carbon emissions.

Conservation, wind generation, biomass generation and any other niche source of power simply will not meet the nation’s growing needs. Nuclear has to be the linch pin of America’s energy future…

So start calling and e-mailing Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb (warner.senate.gov and webb.senate.gov). Tell Virginia’s two U.S. senators that the energy bill needs some serious revisions and that nuclear power needs a bigger presence.

Time’s a’wasting.”

Thank you, News & Advance.  You people from Virginia–get on it.

( By Carrington Dillon )

I found this poll (courtesy of Zogby International) a while back while searching for material to stash in my Favorites for this website.  After seeing some polling data previously, I thought that most of the polling data was typical and to be expected.  However, something just came off the screen and really hit me in the face.  One piece of data… 18-24 year olds were the least supportive age group for nuclear power!

Only 47% of 18-24 year olds were supportive of building new nuclear plants.  67% of adults are supportive of nuclear power and 78% of those over the age of 65 are supportive.  The technology generation is against one of the most advanced technologies that the human race has ever created.  Is it popular culture, video games, rap music?

There are so many things that went through my head for a couple of days after I saw this.  But instead of telling you what I think is the reason for this trend, I’d like to try something new.  I’d like for my fellow NA-YGN members to comment and let me know what they think the cause is.  I would also like for them to come up with some ideas on how we can reach this college-aged group.

We may be able to use some of these ideas for our advocacy efforts in the future.  Recently, I have been working with others in NA-YGN on ideas to reach school-aged kids with nuclear advocacy.  This will go along perfectly with those efforts and hopefully create some good ideas in the process.  Feel free to let loose with the discussion.  Let’s see what you can come up with.

One of the issues that Clean Energy Insight is supporting at the moment is the opportunity to mine the biggest Uranium deposit in US history in Pittsylvania County, VA (www.virginiauranium.com).  Two of the people on our team are from this area and have seen the tens of thousands of jobs that have been lost during their lifetimes in the textile and furniture industries.  By mining this deposit in Southwest Virginia, we can provide high-paying jobs and energy for our future.  It sounds like a good idea to me.

Aaron Ruby of the Virginia Energy Independence Alliance (www.virginiaenergy.org) has submitted a letter to CEI to provide more information on this issue.  Thanks a lot, Aaron.

America is too dependent on foreign uranium

The Virginia Energy Independence Alliance has a solution

America is too dependent on foreign sources of uranium.  The Virginia Energy Independence Alliance (VEIA)—a broad-based coalition of more than 500 concerned citizens, industries, associations and academia from across Virginia and beyond—wants to develop Virginia’s abundant, untapped uranium supply to break America’s dependence.

Nuclear energy supplies 20% of America’s electricity and 37% of Virginia’s.  Nuclear energy is cheaper than wind and solar, cleaner than coal, oil and natural gas, and the most efficient energy source in the world—bar none.

While America and Virginia are undergoing a nuclear renaissance that promises to vastly expand our nuclear power generation, America is increasingly dependent on unreliable foreign countries for our supply of nuclear fuel.  How could this possibly make sense? America imports 92% of the uranium we use each year to fuel nuclear energy.  Virginia imports 100%.  Where do we get our uranium?

We import anywhere from 30%-50% of our uranium from Russia.  By 2013, all the uranium we import from Russia will come from the Kremlin-run uranium enrichment company, Techsnabexport.  How will America fuel our nuclear power if the Kremlin cuts off our supply of uranium - as it did to Eastern Europe’s natural gas supply in early 2009?  This dependence is dangerous, and puts our national security and future energy supply at risk.

One solution to our dependence is right under our feet in Southside Virginia’s Pittsylvania County.  Pittsylvania County is home to the largest untapped uranium deposit in the United States.  The Coles Hill deposit—as it is known—could contain enough uranium to supply Virginia’s current nuclear power demand for the next 65 years.

As one of the most economically distressed regions of the Country, with unemployment reaching almost 15% in some areas, Southside Virginia desperately needs economic opportunity.  Mining and milling the deposit will create as many as 500 new, local jobs, generate millions in local tax dollars each year and stimulate job creation in other related local industries.<

A decades-old moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia is the only obstacle standing in the way of developing this vital resource and reaping its abundant rewards.  Fortunately, science is on our side.  Modern nuclear energy and uranium mining are safe.  The National Academy of Sciences is conducting an 18-month study of uranium mining in Virginia that will lead the way to energy independence and 500 new jobs in Southside Virginia.

To find more information and join the VEIA, visit their Web site, www.virginiaenergy.org.  You may also show your support by signing the VEIA petition at www.virginiaenergy.org/support-the-cause/sign-the-petition or by joining the Virginia Energy Independence Alliance Facebook fan page.

The solutions to our challenges are right under our feet - right here in Virginia.  Let’s use them to cure America’s dependence on foreign energy.

American Energy Independence from Jason Phillips on Vimeo.