The Friday Nuclear Matinee is a short video on the myths and facts of nuclear energy. Please weigh in with comments and questions below about today's video.

ANS Members from Around the World to Gather in D.C. for Winter Meeting

By Will Davis

As students in engineering programs, we rarely have the opportunity to learn about, or advocate for, the politics behind the technology that we discover and develop. Although these opportunities are rare, they do exist and one such opportunity is the Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation or NESD. The NESD is an independent student run organization that is supported by the American Nuclear Society and the Nuclear Energy Institute. For one week each summer, the selected delegates receive a fast-paced learning experience that includes meetings with government agencies, industry stakeholders, and past delegates. During this week, the delegates go through a policy boot camp learning how policy is formulated in the United States and what issues currently affect the nuclear engineering field. The delegates then apply this knowledge to write a policy statement that is used for meetings on Capitol Hill. At the end of the week, the delegation meets with several Senate and House offices to advocate for nuclear engineering education funding and current issues such as national energy policy or used fuel management. The delegation is a fantastic opportunity for any student in nuclear science and engineering or related majors. It provides a unique opportunity for the student community to better understand how our field is intertwined with the politics of the nation.

Republished with permission from ANS News, September/October 2015, p. 5.

Burns

Today, the American Nuclear Society hosted a "Blogger Roundtable" event featuring special guest Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Stephen G. Burns. This event was hosted and moderated by Craig Piercy, ANS D.C. Representative. This was the second such roundtable ANS has hosted (the previous having been with Allison MacFarlane.)

By Joseph Campbell, INL

The 281st edition of the Nuclear Energy Blog Carnival has posted at Neutron Bytes.

The 280th edition of the Nuclear Energy Blog Carnival has posted at The Next Big Future.

For today's Friday Nuclear Matinee: ANS member Meredith Angwin was interviewed on Vote for Vermont hosted by Pat McDonald. Listen as Meredith talks about nuclear fuel safety and the economic impact on closing Vermont Yankee. Meredith educates the public in her easy-to-understand manner, and expresses herself with a genuine passion and belief for nuclear technology. Grab your popcorn and enjoy the show!

It is often said that "knowledge is power," but in America it can just as easily be said that "knowledge is frustrating." In today's popular culture-oriented America, the knowledgeable can sometimes find themselves at odds with much of the general population as hysteria and hype override common sense and expert opinions. This is particularly true for the nuclear industry and its associated technology, which often seem to be the scapegoat for Hollywood, comic books, and the Internet.

The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant went off-line seven months ago, on December 29, 2014. The shutdown has had a massive negative economic effect on the region near the power plant. Could this have been predicted?

Let's make some noise! #Nuclear4Climate, #COP21, #NuclearEquality

A rare look inside the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Glen Rose, Texas. Both a story as well as the video. http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/texas-news/2015/09/18/comanche-peak-nuclear-plant-still-pumping-power-after-25-years/72448156/

As the world's population booms, its resources struggle to keep pace. Water scarcity is one of the most important issues to be confronted by global communities in the years ahead-already an increasingly vast number of regions worldwide face chronic water shortages, and with demand projected to grow an additional 40 percent by 2050, the threat of violence over access to clean drinking water is both a real and urgent one. With shifting climate patterns further exacerbating the problem, investing in economically-efficient and sustainable water utilization tactics immediately is crucial.

Mars - brought to you by NASA and nuclear power. After three action-packed years on Mars, the Curiosity rover is ready to take on higher slopes of Mount Sharp. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/details.php?id=1391

This week's ANS Friday Nuclear Matinee features the second quarter 2015 construction update from South Carolina Electric & Gas's V.C. Summer nuclear power plant, where two new AP1000 nuclear units are under construction. The massive size of the components and construction is well displayed in this video, which dates from late July 2015.

Media have been abuzz this week following the Reuters' story that attempts to portray the situation of Japanese nuclear power plant restarts as not nearly so rosy as had been hoped. Reuters predicted last year at this time that 14 nuclear plants would restart "in the near term," while this year it predicts seven will do so. This number is difficult to support, because the legal challenges faced by individual plants seem to come and to go. Certainly, those plants that are (or already have been) found to be on or near active faults by Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) are in the deepest trouble.

It's that time! Popcorn in hand? Let's watch ANS member Kaylee Yuhas as she talks about how nuclear reactions actually work.