I returned last night from a short vacation to Washington, DC. I am such an atomic geek that my idea of a vacation is to spend a couple of days at the Nuclear Energy Assembly (NEA) in a dim hotel conference room surrounded by a crowd of business leaders, many in dark suits who qualify for a self-effacing description offered by Bill Johnson, the new CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority – “male, pale and stale”. (I suppose I fit two of the three adjectives, but I am working hard to prevent people from applying one of the other words to me.)

Fortunately, the crowd at the Nuclear Energy Assembly included a growing number of decidedly not “male, pale and stale” leaders like Margaret Harding, Mimi Limbach, Ann Bisconti and Caroline Reda.

It will take me several days to digest all of the things I learned and heard, both from the podium and in the valuable “hallway conversations” that often occur when you meet people in face to face situations. I have some recorded audio that might find its way into an Atomic Show or two. I also arose early one morning to get a sneak peak at a terrific tool for teaching high school students about the basics of radiation and nuclear energy. That tool comes from an organization that is very familiar to the people in the industry. The group normally maintains a low public profile; the high quality of the educational material opened my eyes to the depth of their talent.

The first thing I want to share, however, is an inspiring video produced by the North American Young Generations in Nuclear (NA-YGN) group. They were in town for a meeting that is scheduled to align with the NEA and have a tradition of taking advantage of being in Washington to meet their elected representatives on Capital Hill and tell them a little about nuclear energy.