Getting the next generation interested in nuclear science

Getting the next generation interested in nuclear science Moderator | August 30, 2011 at 3:00 pm | Categories: General | URL: http://wp.me/p1fSSY-qt

Youngsters tour the NRC training simulator

The NRC’s Technical Training Center, located in Chattanooga, Tenn., recently hosted 12 young scientists and engineers who were children and friends of NRC employees. The training center includes several state-of-the-art classrooms and – most importantly – a control room simulator used to train NRC technical staff.
The youngsters got an up-close-and-personal tour of the simulator, and were amazed to see the complexity of the buttons, switches, and alarms covering the control panels.
Training center employees enjoyed introducing the kids to the NRC, and the fields of science and engineering. The theme was “Inspector Training” and the day started with a quiz show on the NRC and its inspection program, and then the children had fun with hands-on science experiments.
In addition to touring the simulator, the youngsters got a demonstration of the center’s x-ray unit and got dressed in the protective clothing that NRC inspectors may wear when visiting nuclear power plants.

Young visitors try on protective clothing.

The day was exciting for everyone involved, and served as an important outreach activity to the young community about the NRC and its responsibilities as a regulator. The training center looks forward to future opportunities like this to encourage our youth to apply themselves in the fields of engineering and science.

N. Jeff Griffis, CHP

Senior Health Physicist

NRC Technical Training Center