During a panel discussion here last month following a special NSE-sponsored screening of the new nuclear energy documentary Pandora’s Promise (a must-see when it goes into general release this summer), a lively discussion broke out about the future roadmap for world nuclear development. Some panelists saw the continued improvement of today’s workhorse LWR technologies as the most likely pathway for global nuclear expansion. Others saw a larger role for more radical innovations.
The fact is that nobody knows for certain the outcome of the nuclear innovation race. But one thing is certain: it will be young people still in their twenties who will be leading that race before too long. And judging by the efforts of NSE’s students this spring, our graduates will be in the middle of it all.
Last month the MIT student chapter of the American Nuclear Society hosted the 2013 National ANS Student Conference. It was an outstandingly successful event, with nearly 650 participants – most of them students – from the U.S. and overseas. The conference set new records for the numbers of papers and posters presented. This was a very broad effort by a large number of our students, and they received many compliments for their organizational skills, the warm welcome they gave to their fellow students from around the world, the strong thematic focus of the event (‘The Public Image of the Nuclear Engineer’), and the high quality of the technical presentations. You can read more about the conference here.
Although MIT is internationally known for its contributions to technology-led entrepreneurship, nuclear entrepreneurship hasn’t featured prominently until now. But that is changing, and NSE students have recently been making news on the start-up stage. Remarkably, on April 4th three NSE-led teams took the top three prizes in a Boston-area Future Energy ‘pitch’ contest. One of those teams was subsequently selected as the leading MIT contestant – as well as the Infrastructure and Resources track winner -- in the finals of MIT Clean Energy Prize. (A couple of months ago still another NSE startup won the energy pitching session at the ARPA-E National Energy Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C.)
Of course, any new nuclear enterprise will have a long and challenging road to commercialization. Last month a group of 40 nuclear leaders met at MIT to discuss the current obstacles to nuclear innovation and how best to overcome them (more). Several new nuclear reactor development organizations were represented, along with experts from the regulatory, financial, policy, and philanthropic communities. New regulatory and financial pathways were discussed, as well as a range of policy reforms. There is much work to be done to build a culture of nuclear innovation alongside the safety culture that must continually be reinforced throughout the nuclear energy sector. NSE is committed to supporting both tasks, and to preparing our students for leadership in each case. As Pandora's Promise filmmaker Robert Stone observed following his recent visit to NSE for the screening of his new film:
“It was the most
inspiring time I've had since I completed the film. To see the energy
and enthusiasm of these young nuclear engineers puts wind in my sails,
as I hope my film will do for them. Rather than complaining about the
state of the world, they're going out and fixing it. That's what we need
more of.”
Warm regards,
Richard
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