President-elect Hoffman charters new ANS student section at Chattanooga State

November 7, 2012, 7:00AMANS Nuclear Cafe

American Nuclear Society President-elect Donald Hoffman recently visited the ANS Student Section at Chattanooga State Community College. Hoffman thanked the students for their outstanding participation at the recent Department of Energy public hearing on proposed mixed oxide fuel technologies for Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear plants, and laid out a vision for the future for ANS, in a presentation before a large audience of 60-70 attendees.

Friday Nuclear Matinee: E=mc² is incomplete (!)

November 2, 2012, 6:00AMANS Nuclear Cafe

Albert Einstein's famous equation E=mc² explains, of course, why a nuclear power reactor can generate so much electricity in such a relatively tiny space, while using such a relatively tiny amount of fuel. Electricity from other forms of energy, say tidal or wind motion, sunlight, chemical bonds (burning things)... well, nuclear fission and fusion, thanks to E=mc², are definitely in their very own league.

Nuclear Matinee: Prep work at Sequoyah Unit 2

October 5, 2012, 6:00AMANS Nuclear Cafe

Today's ANS Nuclear Matinee shows viewers a time-lapse film of a steel superstructure being built on top of the dome of Sequoyah-2's reactor containment building. The work is being done to ready the site for a large maintenance project scheduled at the plant. When complete, the superstructure will support the removal of parts of the dome along with the reactor containment vessel and steam generator enclosures.