ANS Nuclear Cafe

The ANS Nuclear Cafe is a blog owned and edited by the American Nuclear Society. Information contained on the ANS Nuclear Cafe has been provided by numerous sources. Therefore, the American Nuclear Society assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy of information contained herein. DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in posted articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Nuclear Society. The views expressed here are those of the individual authors. ANS takes no ownership of their views. The American Nuclear Society assumes no responsibility or liability for any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained on this site.


Nominations open for ANS Young Member awards

February 18, 2011, 6:57AMANS Nuclear Cafe

Nominations are now being accepted for two American Nuclear Society awards established to recognize the important contributions of young members and the ANS Young Members Group (YMG) to ANS as a whole.  Nominations for the Young Members Advancement Award and the Young Members Excellence Award are due by July 1, 2011.  Each award is presented annually at the ANS Winter Conference.

Economic and emissions impacts of electric vehicles

February 15, 2011, 7:00AMANS Nuclear CafeUlrich Decher, Ph.D.

President Obama during his 2011 State of the Union address stated that we should have one million electric vehicles (EV) in the United States by 2015. The benefits of that would be to to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and to reduce emissions. These are worthy goals. This article will take look at the economic impact of using electric cars, their emissions, and their impact on the electric grid.

The power of the social network

February 10, 2011, 7:00AMANS Nuclear CafeSamuel Brinton

Zuckerberg

When Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in 2004, it can be assumed that he did not imagine himself becoming Time's 2010 Person of Year;  he simply wanted to make friends. As a member of the generation that has fully embraced the use of Facebook, I can proclaim that social networking has become a strong part of how I develop my connections with those I meet, both inside and outside the nuclear industry. That Facebook exists only so that teenagers can post whatever floats into their heads-as some Facebook detractors believe-is a huge misconception. On the contrary, I hope that this post helps to explain why we must use social networking sites such as Facebook to our advantage in the new era of nuclear power and technology.

Nuclear energy is a disruptively cheap and simple way to boil water

February 1, 2011, 7:00AMANS Nuclear CafeRod Adams

For the majority of human history, people used their own muscles to provide almost all of the work required for survival and development. A thin slice of humanity achieved a moderate amount of personal comfort and leisure because they were able, often through an accident of birth, to control a portion of the daily work output of hundreds to thousands of their fellow humans. The only sources of work-in the engineering sense-that were not either human or animal muscle came from capturing falling water or intermittently by capturing the breezes through devices like cloth sails or wind mills.

Space, the final nuclear frontier: NETS-2011

January 31, 2011, 7:00AMANS Nuclear CafePaul Bowersox

From high in orbit above planet Earth... to the dusty surface of the moon... to the stunning cloud tops and moons of Jupiter... to the dazzling rings of Saturn... even to the darkness at the edge of interstellar space-nuclear technology has made possible incredible journeys to extraordinary destinations in our Solar System, and opened doors to some of the most profound discoveries of all time. Yet, the future of nuclear technology for space exploration promises even more remarkable journeys and more amazing discoveries.