Challenges of Digital Control Rooms for nuclear power plants

The editorial team at the American Nuclear Society blog would like to publish an article on the challenges of digital control rooms for nuclear power plants. This can be on conversion of an existing plant or building a new one. The blog is located at: http://ansnuclearcafe.wordpress.com  

In addition to writing for the blog, ANS also invites experts to propose articles for ANS News.  If you are interested, please contact Laura Scheele, Rick Michal, or myself.  I will be available to help an author craft an article suitable for the blog format. Rick will provide editorial guidance for ANS news.  

Please share this invitation with colleagues.  Thanks.

China raises 2020 nuclear capacity target by 62 per cent to 114 GW

Published: Dec 3, 2010

China has reportedly raised its target for the construction of new nuclear reactor to 114 GW by 2020, a 62.8 per cent rise on an earlier target of 70 GW.

 

The figures released by the National Development & Reform Commission represent a significant increase from a prior target of 70 GW issued last May by Zhang Guobao, head of China’s National Energy Administration, according to an American Nuclear Society blog.

 

Reuters reported that the China Nuclear Energy Association, headed by Zhao Chenkun, said that the 70 GW target is too low. China currently has a reported 23 reactors under construction and another 140 on drawing boards in various stages of readiness to proceed. Chinese nuclear energy officials, however, later said that 80 GWe was a more likely target.

 

According to the China Daily, Geng Zhicheng, a spokesman for the commission, told a nuclear energy conference in Beijing that if this target (114 GW) is met, nuclear power will account for just 7 per cent of the nation’s estimated need for 1600 GW of power by 2020.

 

According to Steve Kidd, of the World Nuclear Association, speaking at the same conference, China has targeted increasing total non-fossil energy to 15 per cent of the total by 2020.

http://www.powergenworldwide.com/index/display/articledisplay/5022274998/articles/powergenworldwide/nuclear/reactors/2010/12/china-raises_2020.html

 

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Nuclear Industry Workforce Education Revitalizes Skilled Labor and Manufacturing Careers

In 1950 manufacturing accounted for more than 30 percent of all U.S. employment. These skilled labor careers provided an unprecedented standard of living for more than two decades following the end of World War II, allowing millions of Americans to purchase homes and autos and pay for their children to go to college.
By 2006, manufacturing employment shrunk to a mere 10 percent of U.S. employment and with it the bulk of America’s well-paying skilled labor careers. Prognosticators predicted manufacturing’s ultimate demise as a significant driver of the American economy. But a look at the U.S. nuclear industry tells a different story: a narrative where job growth in the skilled trades is on an upward trend and the industry can serve as a role model for the revitalization of the U.S. manufacturing sector through the creation of new careers and economic expansion. In fact, it already has.
At this point 13 license applications for up to 22 new reactors have been filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the industry expects four-to-eight new plants to be operating by the end of the decade. Construction activities already have begun at plant sites in Georgia and South Carolina. As a consequence, over the past three years more than 15,000 careers, not just jobs, have been created as the nuclear industry has invested over $4 billion in new nuclear plant development. Plans call for the investment of another $8 billion to be in position to supply the materials needed to begin large-scale construction in 2011-2012. Many of these careers don’t require a college degree, but have earnings potential that equals, and even exceeds, that of college graduates. Teachers can play an instrumental part in creating awareness among their students of these careers.
K-12 educators should incorporate what we call “Energy Literacy” into their teaching plans and thus can play a significant role in encouraging their students to consider the career possibilities as electrical and mechanical technicians, radiation monitors, health physicists and engineers of all kinds. The nuclear industry has resources to help educators explain to students what career opportunities are available in nuclear power. For example, FREE curriculum and lesson plans are available from groups such as the National Education Foundation and The Ford Foundation on all sectors of energy production including nuclear power. The industry offers expert speakers from diverse nuclear-oriented groups including Women in Nuclear, the North American Young Generation in Nuclear and the American Nuclear Society, and there is a successful nuclear energy mentoring program known as Power Set that could be replicated around the country.
But is there proof of a revival in the American nuclear industry that warrants teachers’ interest? You bet there is. More at:

http://www.cleanenergyinsight.org/energy-insights/nuclear-industry-workforce-education-revitalizes-skilled-labor-and-manufacturing-careers/

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Nuclear Industry Can Lead a Revival in Skilled Labor and Manufacturing in the United States by Rod Adams

The Nuclear Energy Institute, the American Nuclear Society and the North American Young Generation in Nuclear have been investing time and money into focused workforce development programs for several years. The people leading the effort are taking the action to ensure that there are educated and trained people who are ready to meet the challenge of continuing to reliably operate and maintain our existing fleet of 104 nuclear reactors at the same time that we are reestablishing our nuclear plant manufacturing and construction industry.http://atomicinsights.blogspot.com/2010/11/nuclear-industry-can-lead-revival-in.html

Division remains on storing nuclear waste But experts at competing meetings agree that a site is still needed

While the state Commission on Nuclear Projects huddled at the Clark County Government Center to continue its opposition of the Yucca Mountain Project, a few miles away on the Strip more than 2,000 nuclear industry leaders, scientists and researchers converged for a conference titled "Nuclear Progress!"
Despite their differences, both sides acknowledge that the nation's high-level radioactive waste eventually will need a permanent disposal site.

Where that place is, when it will be ready and in what form the waste will be are some of the questions that remain a couple months after Congress zeroed out funding for the project and President Barack Obama's Blue Ribbon Commission for America's Nuclear Future began charting a new path forward.
"My opinion as a nuclear engineer is that the findings of that commission will not be much different than previous commissions. We know what the options are," said Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar, incoming chairwoman of the American Nuclear Society's Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Division.
The best option, whether or not it is Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, or some other site in some other state, is deep, geologic disposal, she said.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/division-remains-on-storing-nation-s-high-level-nuclear-waste-106944248.html

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AMERICAN NUCLEAR SOCIETY ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF EXPERTS TO DISCUSS NUCLEAR ENERGY ISSUES Leading Industry Professionals Available to Share Knowledge and Expertise Concerning Nuclear Issues of Importance to Vermont

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT:
November 8, 2010Jackie Clark, 301-987-7113, 301-641-3750 cell
Fritz Schneider:  (301) 728-4811

AMERICAN NUCLEAR SOCIETY
ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF EXPERTS TO DISCUSS
NUCLEAR ENERGY ISSUES
Leading Industry Professionals Available to Share Knowledge and Expertise
Concerning Nuclear Issues of Importance to Vermont

WHAT:Nuclear industry experts to inform audiences about scientific and regulatory issues

WHEN:Available Now!

WHO:Edward L.  Quinn:
Former American Nuclear Society (ANS) President
ANS member for more than 25 years

Candace Davison:
 Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering
 ANS member for more than 15 years
Chairperson of American Nuclear Society Public Information Committee
Senior Reactor Operator

Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar
ANS member for more than 20 years
Incoming Chairperson of the Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Division of ANS Nuclear Engineer
Professor of Nuclear Engineering

Some Topics Include:

Licensing Transfer – What steps and what regulations must be observed to transfer a license for an operating nuclear power plant

Workforce Continuity – If an operating plant’s ownership is transferred, how will the public be assured that a trained workforce will be in place to assure continuity of operations

Radiation and Relative Risk – how a transatlantic flight or eating a banana is a radiation event

These uniquely experienced and knowledgeable individuals can help navigate complex questions of science and public policy on issues of importance to citizens of Vermont.

They will provide solid science, unemotionally and understandably, so that decisions about Vermont’s energy future can be made on facts, not myth.

For more information about the conference please visit www.ans.org.

Established in 1954, ANS is a professional organization of engineers and scientists devoted to the peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology.  Its 11,000 members come from diverse technical backgrounds covering the full range of engineering disciplines as well as the physical and biological sciences.

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Nuclear society president-elect says loan guarantee changes are needed

The president-elect of the American Nuclear Society said the US
Department of Energy's loan guarantee program needs changes if it is to
increase the number of nuclear power plants in the country.

     The current program "is in need of reform," Eric Loewen said Monday at a
Nuclear Energy Insider-sponsored conference in Charlotte, North Carolina,
citing Constellation Energy's withdrawal earlier this month from consideration
for a loan guarantee for a planned reactor project in Maryland. 

     The government's offer of a $7.5 billion loan guarantee with an attached
fee of $880 million shows the program needs revisions, Loewen said.

     "The Office of Management and Budget has set terms and conditions [that]
may destroy the project's economics and prevent the project from going
forward," he said. More at:

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/Nuclear/8107310

ANS Nuclear Cafe All Things Nuclear

Welcome message from ANS President Joe Colvin

 http://ansnuclearcafe.wordpress.com/

As the American Nuclear Society President, I am pleased to welcome you to the ANS Nuclear Cafe.  The Society has opened the ANS Nuclear Cafe to communicate timely information and perspectives on all things nuclear.   This online forum will include ANS member perspectives on a range of nuclear topics and activities, as well as highlight the resources and benefits of the Society to nuclear professionals.
We arrived at the Nuclear Cafe name because it captures the collaborative nature of the blog as well as the concept of this being an interactive discussion of nuclear topics.  As defined in Wikipedia, a “cafe” refers to a small, informal public discussion, which can often focus on starting an open conversation on a particular topic.  Examples include science cafes in the US, Café Scientifique in the UK, the Cafe Society in Chicago, and now the ANS Nuclear Cafe.