Clean Energy Insight - Moving Energy Forward

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The North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) teamed up with Clean Energy Insight for the 2011 NA-YGN Drawing Contest.  In light of the events at Fukushima Nuclear Plant, the contest focused on nuclear power on an international scale with the theme,  “Roddy Nuclear Powers the World.”  Roddy is a nuclear fuel pellet, and an NA-YGN mascot, and he is predominantly featured in this year’s drawing contest posters.

NA-YGN would like to thank all chapters for their participation. Your support of this program ensures that the new “young generation” has clear information on nuclear power, and can make informed decisions about our energy future.

This year, voting took place on the CEI website in order to expand our voting audience and to draw attention to this site. Over 250 visitors to the site voted, and for that, we thank you!

We are proud to announce the contest winners:

First Place: Giovanni Valforte, Myrtle Avenue Elementary

First Runner-Up: Olivia Whitacre, St. Teresa of Avila

Second Runner-Up: Matthew McHugh, St. Teresa of Avila

Winners will receive an NA-YGN t-shirt, science kit, and books for themselves and their schools.

We encourage all NA-YGN Chapters to participate in the 2012 Drawing Contest, which will be 100% digital for the first time. If you have any feedback or questions about the Drawing Contest, or would like to assist in 2012, please contact Andrea Davis of the NA-YGN Triangle Chapter at .

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Two North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) members recently offered their thoughts and advice in a guest article on the ANS Nuclear Cafe Blog, encouraging young members of the nuclear energy industry to take complete personal responsibility of  their professional development.

Learning to take charge of my professional and personal development has been the biggest lesson I’ve learned during my first 4 years in the nuclear energy industry, and I felt this article was relevant to my experiences and needs as a young member thus far.  I hope that it helps other NA-YGN members get a head start on their development.

Great job on the article, Jennifer and Elizabeth - although it was published a day too late to help me with my annual appraisal with my supervisor!

Development: Taking Charge of Your Career

Posted on January 18, 2012
By Elizabeth McAndrews-Benavides and Jennifer Varnedoe

Every member of the nuclear industry has a responsibility to focus on his or her own career development as a component of continuous improvement. While this is good advice, young professionals often struggle with how to identify these development opportunities. The question of how to overcome this challenge spirited discussion at the 2011 Young Professionals Conference.

“Young professionals are told to ask for opportunities and additional responsibilities in order to develop ourselves, but we’re never given examples of what opportunities our employers think we should be looking for,” said Adam Nygaard, a member of the North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN). “I believe that career development is the primary responsibility of the individual, but employers are stakeholders as well. It’s good that they have finally provided guidance and are working toward closing the knowledge and experience gap in our industry.”

The good news is that young professionals no longer have to guess at the answer to this question. The U.S. electric industry, through the Center for Energy Workforce Development, has created two new resources to help industry leaders, educators, and young professionals navigate development.

These resources are competency models that lay out the knowledge, skills, and abilities that every new employee should master to become a fully competent energy worker. The energy industry is using these models to develop new energy education programs and to improve industry training to ensure that there are qualified energy workers readily available to replace retirees.

“Competency models are a great resource for young professionals to reference before heading into their annual appraisals with their supervisors,” said Gale Hauck, co-chair of the ANS Young Members Group. “These models make it easy for employees to identify their own development gaps and to ask supervisors to include the appropriate opportunities to close these gaps in their personal development plans.”

The Energy Industry Competency Model: Generation, Transmission and Distribution is made up of stacked tiers divided by blocks representing competencies. Each block represents a focus area that needs to be developed in new energy workers. This resource was developed to help non-licensed operators, maintenance personnel, and technicians.

The Engineering Competency Model builds off of the previous model and replaces the top three tiers with engineering-specific competencies. Once an engineer meets all of the entry level competencies they can move on to the 3+-year-experienced engineer competencies.

Hauck said, “It’s nice to have a development road map. Young professionals no longer have to struggle to figure out what development opportunities they need, they can focus on being developed.”

Chris Hearn, U.S. Affairs chair of NA-YGN, added, “Now that these resources are available, conference planning committees and local chapters of NA-YGN can use this information to design professional development sessions. All you have to do is look at the competency model and identify which competency your members need the most help with.”

North American Young Generation in Nuclear is a professional society for those working in nuclear science and technology. It has 8,500 members and 97 local chapters. The ANS Young Members Group is a technical group of the American Nuclear Society with more 1,000 members.

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Jennifer Varnedoe is chair of the ANS Young Members Group. She is a project engineer with Advanced Programs at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. She has been an ANS member since 2007 and is a guest contributor to the ANS Nuclear Cafe.

Elizabeth is past president of NA-YGN. She is manager of Industry Infrastructure at the Nuclear Energy Institute. In this role she is focused on work force development and supply chain issues for the nuclear industry. Prior to this job, she worked for Constellation Energy in its new nuclear division, UniStar Nuclear.

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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.

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.

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The Bellefonte Chapter of North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) held its first annual School Supply Drive during the month of August to benefit schools in the Jackson County (Alabama) area.  Thanks to our Vector NA-YGN members in the Chattanooga and Knoxville locations, we were able to expand the donations collected for the Bellefonte supply drive to benefit local students.

The school supplies were presented to the staff of Hollywood Elementary School on Thursday August 11th, 2011.  Supplies include, but are not limited to: three-ring binders, copy paper, folders, color pencils, markers, pens, and USB flash drives that will be used for eight grade projects.   Electric pencil sharpeners and large desk calendars were also donated for each classroom.  Principal Paul Kennamer stated that “getting all of these supplies is like Christmas” and looked forward to the jobs that Bellefonte will be creating for the area.

I would like to thank the entire Bellefonte Team for their contributions towards our first school supply drive, and offer a special thanks to Burns & McDonnell and Partners in Education (PIE) for their generosity in this effort.

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With North American Young Generation in Nuclear’s continued effort to serve as a voice of the nuclear industry and make a difference in the clean energy debate, we have taken to social media outlets to get the word out.  Led by members Jack Gamble and Patrick Mason, NA-YGN will keep in touch with its members and the public through social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.  Follow us on these sites for updates on the industry and NA-YGN news.  Join the conversation and Move Energy Forward!

Twitter: @NA_YGN

http://twitter.com/#!/NA_YGN 

Facebook: North American Young Generation in Nuclear

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/North-American-Young-Generation-in-Nuclear-NA-YGN/125288777483195 

LinkedIn: North American Young Generation in Nuclear

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=74668

YouTube: NAYGN

http://www.youtube.com/user/NAYGN 

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The International Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC) will be held in North America for the first time since 2004.  NA-YGN is proud to co-host this exceptional conference in Charlotte, North Carolina from August 5-11, 2012.

The IYNC 2012 conference will supplement NA-YGN’s annual professional development conference with new technical tracks, workshops, and tours.  Young professionals and students from around the world will have the opportunity to present their research papers to an audience of their peers.  The first call papers will be announced very shortly by the end of June.

See the announcement flyer for more information.

UPDATE: (6-6-11) Here is a link to the radio ad that Natalie recorded for NEI, that is being played in the Washington DC area. Hear it here.

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As NA-YGN members from all over North America continue to prove themselves as a voice for the nuclear industry, Natalie Wood, NA-YGN member and Design Engineer at River Bend Nuclear Station, is being featured in a new Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) advert focused around the nuclear energy industry focus on safety.

Check out the ad here: http://www.cleanenergyinsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/nei-pw-natalie-final.pdf

Natalie is also a member of Clean Energy America, a speaker’s bureau of nuclear energy industry experts.  Here is her bio from the Clean Energy America website:

Natalie Wood is a graduate of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA, where she received her Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering.

Natalie is currently employed by Entergy at the River Bend Station in St. Francisville, LA, as a Design Engineer. Natalie oversees the modification of existing plant equipment and systems, ensures industry lessons learned are implemented and develops action plans to address plant issues.

Natalie resides in St. Francisville, LA with her husband and her son. She and her husband spend most of their time renovating their 100 year old house. In her spare time she is a powerlifter and a volunteer firefighter.

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North American - Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) adapted our organization during the 2010-2011 year to meet the unique needs of our members, particularly in a year that saw the tsunami-triggered nuclear crisis in Japan. Our group continues to operate as the premier grassroots organization in the nuclear science and technology sector. Our passion attracts new members and these new members give us the energy to achieve our goals.

Since our inception, 7,600 people have joined NA-YGN. NA-YGN successfully completed the four new programs we laid out in the 2010-2011 strategic plan: We modified our mission statement to reflect the growth and future vision of the organization; we implemented a new knowledge transfer program called +One to help young professionals transition out of NA-YGN and onto industry committees; we implemented our new fundraising strategy, which allows annual sponsorships; and we won the right to expand our influence beyond North America by hosting the 2012 International Youth in Nuclear Congress in conjunction with our annual continental conference.

These are just highlights. And the full scope of our achievements comes from so many of our more than 90 local chapters. Our 3,600 active members collectively accomplished 84,000 hours of public outreach and professional development in 2010. Our members’ enthusiasm led the organization to organize six regional professional development meetings and six regional networking activities.

One of the strengths of NA-YGN is our flexibility. The events in Japan required NA-YGN to adapt our initial strategic plan to match the needs of our members in this challenging period. The professional development committee hosted two special webinars that made North American experts available to answer questions for NA-YGN members on the unfolding events at Fukushima. We had close to 1,000 NA-YGN, U.S. Women in Nuclear and American Nuclear Society members join those webinars.

The public information committee adjusted their focus to provide additional coverage to the events in Fukushima. Committee members helped general members utilize the Clean Energy Insight blog and NA-YGN social media sites for information and status updates.

NA-YGN provides opportunities to a diverse segment of the nuclear science and technology population. Every small accomplishment our members and committees achieve helps to grow respect for us as a generation. We need to continue our hard work to add value to the sector. We also need to continue to provide opportunities to those new to the work force. With these dual priorities as our compass, we will continue to build opportunities for our young generation to become a generation of leaders.

For more achievements, please review the 2010-2011 End of Year Report.

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Elizabeth McAndrew-Benavides is the Past-President of the North American Young Generation in Nuclear.

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The Shaw Group’s Charlotte North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) chapter recently raised $38,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation^® of Central & Western North Carolina chapter at its third annual golf tournament.

“As a group, we learned a lot from last year and made some adjustments for this year’s tournament,” said Kevin Snyder, Power Group QA specialist and golf committee chair.  “The planning went extremely well because of all the work we did over the past couple of years establishing contacts through Shaw’s amazing vendors and subcontractors.” 

More than 120 golfers from Shaw and approximately 30 local companies, including AREVA, Westinghouse, Duke, SPX and Heyward, teed off to support this event on March 25 at NorthStone Country Club in Huntersville, N.C.  Participants enjoyed a beautiful day of golf, networking opportunities, raffle prizes and door prizes for all.

“The staggering success of this year’s tournament surpassed all the goals our chapter set out to accomplish,” said Holly Boehm, Power Group business systems analyst and Shaw Charlotte NA-YGN co-chair. “We can’t thank all who supported this tournament enough, and we look forward to making this bigger and better each year.”

A banquet followed the tournament, where participants enjoyed food and drinks, raffle drawings, awards and the check presentation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation^® of Central & Western N.C.  The winning team actually boasted two NA-YGN members from the AREVA chapter, Jackson Rollins and Adam Johnson, who played along with Mark Black and Paul Callaghan, both of Benefit Insight Group.

“Every child has a story, an idea and a vision of what their one wish will be, and with your help, several kids throughout our region will get to experience that magical moment,” said Jen Pearson, special events coordinator for the Make-A-Wish Foundation^® of Central & Western N.C. “Knowing that a young girl stricken with cancer will get to eat breakfast with Cinderella in a few weeks is all it takes to realize that you have helped share in the power of a wish.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is an international non-profit organization that enriches the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work. Since being founded in 1980, the organization has reached more than 250,000 children around the world.

NA-YGN unites young professionals passionate about nuclear science and technology through professional development, networking and community outreach opportunities and this event accomplished just that!

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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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Last week FIVE PEOPLE were KILLED due to a GAS EXPLOSION in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  In DISGUST of hearing how once again a VIOLENT GAS EXPLOSION has TAKEN NUMEROUS LIVES, I thought it appropriate to provide some detailed information regarding the amount of lives lost in severe accidents with respect to energy source.  It is also important to ask WHY these ACCIDENTS CONTINUE TO OCCUR.

Recently, the Nuclear Energy Agency, of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), published a report [1] that compares nuclear accident risks with those from other energy sources.  The OECD is a forum where the governments of 32 democracies work together to address the economic, social, and environmental challenges of globalization.  The OECD attempts to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice, and work to coordinate domestic and international policies [1].

The report compares the severe accident data from a wide range of energy sources.  Severe accident is defined in the report as an accident with five or more immediate fatalities.  The data, ranging from 1969 to 2000, was provided by the Paul Scherrer Institute [2].  The results considered full energy chains because for fossil fuel chains, the accidents at plants are minor compared to the other stages of the energy chain.  In general and as applicable, an energy chain comprises exploration, extraction, transport, storage, power and/or heat generation, transmission, local distribution, waste treatment and disposal.

Summary of Severe Accidents (≥ 5 Fatalities) from 1969-2000 [1,2]

Energy Chain	OECD Countries (Industrialized)		Non-OECD Countries (Developing)		Worldwide
	Accidents	Immediate Fatalities	Accidents	Immediate Fatalities	Accidents	Immediate Fatalities
Coal	75	2,259	102 A	4,831 A	1,221	25,107
			1,044 B	18,017 B
			819 C	11,334 C
Oil	165	3,713	232	16,505	397	20,218
Natural Gas	90	1,043	45	1,000	135	2,043
Liquefied Petroleum Gas	59	1,905	46	2,016	105	3,921
Hydro	1	14	10	29,924	11	29,938
Nuclear	0	0	1	31D	1	31
Notes:
A - Coal, Non-OECD Countries, excluding China
B - Coal, Non-OECD, data for China alone from 1969-2000
C - Coal, Non-OECD, China data from the years 1994 -1999 only; the extreme number likely indicates inconsistencies in reporting before 1994
D - Immediate fatalities only

More than 2,500 people are killed every year in energy-related severe accidents (≥ 5 fatalities).  One hydro power incident that occurred in China was responsible for 29,924 deaths.  Single oil related accidents in the Philippines and Afghanistan caused 4,386 and 2,700 prompt fatalities respectively [1].

The one nuclear severe accident that has occurred is the Chernobyl (Ukraine) accident.  There were 31 immediate fatalities following this accident, with latent deaths estimated to be between a total of 9,000 and 33,000 over the next 70 years based on current radiation dose risk coefficients [1].  By way of comparison, the OECD reports that outdoor air pollution due to fine particles (≤ 10 microns) is estimated to have caused approximately 960,000 premature deaths in 2000 alone.  Of this pollution, approximately 30 % arises from energy sources [1].

Production of electricity by means of NUCLEAR ENERGY DOES NOT PRODUCE CARBON EMISSIONS.

As we can all agree, the death of a human being due to generating electricity is unacceptable; however, it is necessary to understand that improper design of a containment structure, disregard for safety procedures, and human error lead to the disaster that occurred at Chernobyl.

Existing NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS and the recently proposed units utilize a “DEFENSE-IN-DEPTH” approach to NUCLEAR SAFETY.  This means that there are MULTIPLE SAFETY MEASURES that are provided to PREVENT such an accident from occurring due to mechanical or human error.  Also, in the extremely unlikely event such an accident does occur, the PUBLIC IS PROTECTED by the reactor containment structure that is conservatively designed to withstand accident conditions.

Not one person has died as a direct result of the nuclear fission process utilized to generate electricity at commercial nuclear reactors in the US.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) monitors key indicators that support an INCREASE in SAFETY and RELIABILITY at NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS in the US.   Please see previous article, “Myth: As Nuclear Power Plants Age, They Become More Risky,” which provides trends that support increased safety at US nuclear reactors.  Another important statistic is the capacity factor of a plant.  This is the ratio of actual electricity generated to the amount of electricity the plant is capable of producing.  The capacity factory for US nuclear power plants collectively in the 1970s was near 50%.  Currently the average capacity factor for US nuclear power plants is above 90% [3].  This increase in generation output is the result of an INDUSTRY FOCUSED on SAFETY and RELIABILITY.

The protection of the public, workers, and the environment from radiation has been the primary objective of operators and regulatory authorities since the start of the civilian nuclear power industry.  It is the responsibility of all individuals working in the NUCLEAR industry, INCLUDING MYSELF, to perform all tasks to the HIGHEST STANDARDS and to stand firm when nuclear safety is being challenged.  The SAFE operation of NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS is by far the most significant factor in the SUCCESS and GROWTH OF AN INDUSTRY that is poised to SHAPE our CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE.

ACCIDENTS continue to occur around the world, including the 2009 HYDRO PLANT DISASTER in Russia that claimed the lives of 76 individuals, the BP OIL SPILL in the Gulf of Mexico last year, and GAS EXPLOSIONS such as the one last week.

The time is now to ask why these accidents continue to occur and why we are not taking advantage of NUCLEAR POWER; a CLEAN, PROVEN, BASE-LOAD ENERGY TECHNOLOGY that this country was the first to develop and benefit from.

The safety and operational history of the nuclear power industry should not only be commended, it should also be a major contributor in the current decisions and legislation to address the future energy demands of this nation.  Addressing the ENERGY NEEDS of society in a way that is both SAFE and RELIABLE is of the utmost importance to ensure a solid clean energy future; rather than doing it at the expense of human lives.

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References

[1]          Nuclear Energy Agency, Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Report, 2010

[2]         Paul Scherrer Institute Data Report

[3]         Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) - Capacity Factor

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The public statement below was given by NA-YGN to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Storage of Used Fuel and Defense Waste on Friday, December 7, 2010 in Augusta, GA.

My name is Stephen Stegall and I am an engineer employed at Southern Nuclear’s Vogtle Electric Generating Plant.  I was born and raised in the Augusta area; I have seen firsthand the benefits of having the Savannah River Site and Vogtle in this community my entire life.  I am here today to share with you my perspectives as a taxpayer, nuclear worker, and most importantly a citizen of the surrounding community.

Nuclear energy is safe and provides sustainable jobs, but it is received cautiously by the average citizen.  Even though I grew up in this area, I knew very little about the technology before working at Vogtle.  When I was interviewing my current position, I was taken on a tour around the plant by a Senior Engineer.  As we were walking towards the buildings with equipment, I suspiciously asked, “So, are we getting radiated right now?”  He just laughed and responded, “Not even close!”  In the few years that I have worked in the Nuclear Industry, I have come to learn why he laughed.  Not only are there redundant safety systems and procedures to protect against an accident at nuclear facilities, there is also the attitude that the safety of the public is priority above all else.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is safer from a personnel standpoint to work at a nuclear power plant than in any manufacturing discipline.  The safety incident rate is approximately 90% safer when compared to other common manufacturing industries.  It is because of this engrained attitude of safety culture and the proven safety record that I believe nuclear technology should be an integral part of this nation’s future in providing affordable and reliable energy.

Another part of this nation’s future is the next generation of nuclear workers in this community and across the country.  I represent the 6,000 young nuclear professionals in an organization known as North American - Young Generation in Nuclear.  We ask the Commission to recommend a timely pathway for recycling and storing of both Savannah River Site defense high level wastes and commercial-used nuclear fuel at a permanent repository, and to honor the Federal government’s commitments in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.  We also urge the Commission to consider interim storage facilities and that the responsibility for used fuel management be transferred to an independent entity with a management and financial structure capable of withstanding political change.  We must accomplish this to ensure sustained growth for an industry that is on the brink of a true renaissance to provide a sustainable energy source.  The nuclear renaissance isn’t just for the local communities building new nuclear facilities.  U.S. manufacturing and labor unions across the country will be greatly affected by it.  Steel mills and suppliers of electrical cables, pumps, valves, piping, motors, electrical breaks, and computer chips across the country are needed to support building these facilities.  Carpenters, iron workers, laborers, equipment operators will be needed to do the actual construction. 

It is important that the commission understand the true utilitarian aspects of nuclear technology when making your recommendations.  The nuclear renaissance doesn’t just touch the local communities embracing the construction of new nuclear facilities and technology.  Nuclear technology is essential to provide safer foods, a sustainable pipeline of medical isotopes used for cancer therapy, in addition to clean and reliable energy to our country.  Due to the necessary role nuclear technology plays in our community, it is important to remember that your recommendations touch the future and sustainability of multiple industries across America. 

To elaborate this point further, I want to give you a positive outlook on the potential your recommendations have on sustainable jobs in America.  It takes a large number of people and companies from the both the local community and across the U.S. to build a new nuclear plant.  To give you a few examples….suppliers and manufactures of steel, concrete, electrical cables, pumps, valves, piping, motors, and electrical breakers across the country are needed to support building these facilities.  Over 2000 carpenters, engineers, iron workers, laborers, project managers, pipe fitters will be needed to do the actual construction.  And… approximately 800 engineers, mechanics, operators, health physicists, and security professionals will be needed to operate the plant once it is built.  It is undeniable the impacts building new nuclear technology will have on the local and national economies and it is all threatened by not having a robust plan for disposal of used fuel.

Before I leave you today, I would like to acknowledge the other Young Generation in Nuclear members in the room.  These individuals are here to help answer questions that the Commissioners, or any of the community members may have, and to show their commitment to helping our nation provide clean, safe, and reliable technology for the benefits of American citizens.  The young nuclear professionals from the local community and across the country are looking forward to your recommendations for the management of used nuclear fuel in the United States. Thank you for your time today. 

Stephen Stegall

NA-YGN President - Plant Vogtle Chapter