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Empowering the next generation: ANS’s newest book focuses on careers in nuclear energy
A new career guide for the nuclear energy industry is now available: The Nuclear Empowered Workforce by Earnestine Johnson. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience across 16 nuclear facilities, Johnson offers a practical, insightful look into some of the many career paths available in commercial nuclear power. To mark the release, Johnson sat down with Nuclear News for a wide-ranging conversation about her career, her motivation for writing the book, and her advice for the next generation of nuclear professionals.
When Johnson began her career at engineering services company Stone & Webster, she entered a field still reeling from the effects of the Three Mile Island incident in 1979, nearly 15 years earlier. Her hiring cohort was the first group of new engineering graduates the company had brought on since TMI, a reflection of the industry-wide pause in nuclear construction. Her first long-term assignment—at the Millstone site in Waterford, Conn., helping resolve design issues stemming from TMI—marked the beginning of a long and varied career that spanned positions across the country.
Fuyumi Ito, Naotake Nakamura, Keiji Nagai, Mitsuo Nakai, Takayoshi Norimatsu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 4 | May 2009 | Pages 465-471
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A7428
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Low-density foam balls with a diameter of ~1 mm were produced from a density-matched emulsion consisting of a resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) aqueous solution (W) and an exterior oil of carbontetrachloride/(mineral oil) (O). Phase-transfer catalysts such as an alkyl amine were dissolved in the exterior oil, following which the catalyst moved into the RF solution from the exterior oil. A gelation process was monitored by a complete gelation test. When the basic catalysts were used at room temperature as a phase-transfer catalyst, gelation occurred within 30 to 120 min, whereas when the acidic catalyst was used, gelation occurred within 20 to 30 min at room temperature. When ~0.39 wt% of triethylamine and tri(n-butyl)amine in the oil phase were used, complete gelation took place. A basic catalyst with a long alkyl chain such as dimethyl(n-hexyl)amine did not induce gelation. The gelated balls obtained using the basic catalyst with a short alkyl chain were dried by extraction using supercritical fluid CO2 and the solvent was replaced with 2-propanol to produce the foam structure. Except 0.39 wt% tri(n-butyl)amine, the basic catalysts yielded foam balls with higher densities of 173 to 184 mg/cm3 as compared to those obtained from a benzoic acid catalyst, namely, 158 mg/cm3. The density difference can be attributed to the inclusion of the basic catalyst in the RF solution. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed a surface membrane formation, which can be explained by local concentration at the W/O interface. The cell size of the bulk foam was observed to depend on the catalysts, and it was surmised that the cell sizes varied because of the different gelation rates. A smooth surface membrane tri(n-butyl)amine was used as a catalyst. The membrane obtained on using a basic phase-transfer catalyst was smoother than that obtained on using an acid catalyst. Such a smooth membrane is useful for coating the ablation layer of foam capsule targets.