James conran nuclear engineering

States are shifting from Renewable Energy Mandates to technology neutral Clean Energy Standards that include nuclear energy. So it is good that the development of new nuclear technologies is speeding along faster than most people think. Many new nuclear start-up companies have emerged in the United States, China and Canada, especially those designing small modular reactors SMRs.

It just shuts down and cools off. Click to read entire article at Forbes. I was stuck in my house for eight days. Click to read article at Forbes Many people cite "nuclear waste" as the reason we shouldn't pursue more nuclear energy. But there also exists a big disconnect on what nuclear waste, or used nuclear fuel, actually is. And what it isn't.

In this short video Pt. Click here to view Part One. How much do you know about radiation? In Part II of his series on used nuclear fuel, Dr. James Conca looks at the radiation involved in storing used nuclear fuel and how long it lasts. Click here to view Part Two. In the third and final segment from scientist Dr. James Conca, we look at the safety of used nuclear fuel, the confusion some people have with defense waste - and the need for a long-term repository.

Click here to view Part Three. NuScale Power is on track to build the first small modular nuclear reactor in America faster than expected. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. After sailing through Phase 1 so quickly, the company really is on track to build the first SMR in America within the next few years. No need to come up with huge evacuation plans for nearby cities or anyone living near the plant, like we did for older plants.

James Hansen and Michael Shellenberger present a compelling case for re-evaluating the role that a modern generation of nuclear power must play in the world's energy mix if we are to avert a climate catastrophe of immense proportions. Click here to watch the video. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona produces the most electricity of any power plant in America, over 30 billion kWhs per year, and is also the largest single producer of low-carbon electricity.

Natural gas futures hit a 2-year high as did gasoline prices at the pump. Third Way recently surveyed the North American landscape and found 60 companies and research organizations developing advanced nuclear technologies. Disputes over computer hacking, cyber-plundering and limits on U. Over the last fifty years, nuclear energy has proven to be the safest and most efficient of all energy sources, from both the human health and environmental perspectives.

In total, to produce a trillion kWh of electricity, nuclear takes less land, uses less steel and concrete, has less emissions, kills fewer people, and has lower life-cycle costs than any other energy source. It turns out that building a combination of new natural gas and new nuclear plants, while maintaining existing hydroelectric and nuclear plants as long as possible, gives us the cheapest and most reliable energy future.

Click here to read the article at Forbes. Every branch of the United States Military is worried about climate change. They have been since well before it became controversial. China will be our biggest military and political problem by the middle of this century. It would be nice to understand what issues will exacerbate our struggles. Looking out the window from my hospital bed last week, I marveled at the clarity of Rattlesnake Ridge almost 30 miles away.

The air quality was amazing. I then looked down at an article I was reading in The Week that reported how the air quality in Beijing was so bad, the visibility so low, that a downtown factory building burned for three hours before anyone noticed! Coaches were having a hard time allowing our athletes to go to Beijing to train prior to the Games because the air was so toxic.

He has extensive experience of high temperature materials and is currently involved in supporting the development of molten salt technology through fundamental research on in situ measurements on dissolution and speciation in molten salts. His research is focused on modeling techniques and design of advanced nuclear energy systems intended to address future global energy needs in environmentally conscious and resource-sustainable way.

A part of Dr. Shwageraus research is dedicated to studying Thorium based fuel in combination with advanced cladding material such as SiC which may be capable of achieving ultra-high burnup long fuel cycles at high power densities while at the same time providing higher safety margin. Shwageraus has led multiple government and industry-sponsored research projects on developing advanced reactor designs.

Carlos O. Maidana is a distinguished physicist and research engineer with over 22 years of international experience in the fields of engineering, applied sciences, and nuclear systems. Maidana has led a diverse range of cross-disciplinary projects, covering the entire design and development cycle from concept studies to optimization using advanced theoretical, computational, and experimental techniques.

Maidana has held prominent positions in some of the most prestigious research institutions globally. Maidana is recognized as the leading authority worldwide in engineering magneto-hydrodynamics, particularly in the area of annular linear induction pumps ALIPs and thermo-hydraulics of liquid metals and molten salts. His expertise in these fields has been instrumental in advancing the technology and its applications.

Maidana holds a Ph. Additionally, he holds various certificates in research commercialization and project management.

James conran nuclear engineering

At Nano Nuclear Energy, Dr. Following the Chernobyl accident, it was recognized that a single incident can have global consequences, leading to the establishment of the World Association of Nuclear Operators WANO. This organization conducts periodic reviews of the global nuclear power station fleet and collects data on operational incidents, including those that are relatively minor.

This vein of thinking emerged after the Three Mile Island incident, after which it became clear that focusing on seemingly small operational details can greatly reduce the probability of large accidents as well improving plant reliability and economics. His research continues in the same philosophy but with the modern advantages of large datasets and the tools to understand them.

He now teaches computational methods in nuclear engineering and supervises research projects on the topic. Several of the investigations are still under way. The mystery is of major significance because it has become a part of the broad debate over whether any government is capable of protecting this kind of material. The mystery and debate are particularly pertinent today because the United States, France, and Russia are now spending billions of dollars to design and build the liquid metal fast breeder reactor, an advanced nuclear technology requiring the widespread movement of large quantities of a nuclear fuel that can be readily transformed into atomic bombs.

One curious aspect of the case is that official reactions to the NUMEC mystery are in many ways more important than the event that triggered them. Shapiro set up his processing plant in an old brick factory building in Apollo, Pennsylvania, a small industrial town in the mountains about thirty-five miles east of Pittsburgh. Soon NUMEC was receiving a steady flow of government contracts, most of them to transform highly enriched uranium into fuel for the naval reactors and an experimental space rocket.

During a series of routine inspections between April and November , AEC inspectors found an alarming discrepancy between the amount of highly enriched uranium the government had sent to NUMEC and the amount of the material the company had shipped out as fuel, had locked in storage, or was otherwise able to account for. According to a later summary of events prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 1 the investigators, as of October 31,, had toted up a cumulative loss of Even accepting this explanation, however, the summary said that the whereabouts of approximately pounds—enough to serve as the explosive for five to ten atomic bombs—could not be satisfactorily determined.

The government was worried. What had happened? Highly enriched uranium, after being processed at NUMEC, took the form of a gray powder or small gray pellets. The material is so heavy that pounds would easily fit into a fivegallon can. Because such an amount enclosed in a small place could explode, however, it is always handled in smaller quantities.

The uranium could have been removed from the Apollo plant and shipped out of the country in any number of ways, because security procedures were minimal. Small packets could have been shipped directly from the plant in boxes with innocuous markings. On the other hand, an undercover agent working at the company without the knowledge of the managers could have sneaked out packages of highly enriched uranium in his pocket and then shipped the material to a foreign country in a diplomatic pouch.

There is no method presently in existence to protect against overshipment by collusion. For reasons never satisfactorily explained, however, the bold plans were short-circuited. The theft of nuclear materials was clearly under the jurisdiction of the FBI. The counsel at that time, a thirty-eight-year-old career government lawyer named Marcus Rowden, a decade later was named chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by President Ford.

Was the AEC sabotaging the very investigation it had just ordered? We do know, however, that despite the lack of an immediate FBI investigation and a crippled effort by the AEC, the commission did not hesitate to assure Congress that they saw no cause for alarm. The assurance from Dr. Glenn Seaborg, the towering, bushy-browed chairman of the AEC, was astounding.

For on the same day the Nobel prizewinning physicist told Congress he knew of no evidence of theft, Dr. Seaborg and three of his colleagues received a secret briefing that reached a far different conclusion. The briefing was given by Howard C. Brown, the third highest executive in the AEC, according to minutes made public a few months ago.

Because it was based on an assumption of honesty and financial responsibility, the AEC material accountability system might not reveal a deliberate and systematic attempt to divert material in this manner. In fact, the AEC was in a fogbank even thicker than what Mr. Brown acknowledged to the commission. According to the company, the records had been accidentally destroyed when supervisors were cleaning up from a strike.

Despite the enormous uncertainties, the commission did not hesitate to give reassuring answers to the public as well as to Congress.