The agenda for Day 2 of the ANS Winter Meeting included a wide variety of technical breakout sessions with papers being presented on topics as varied as “Multigroup Formulation of the “Correction” Hybrid Mont Carlo/Deterministic Transport Method” to “Optimization of Fission Product Identification Using Compton Suppression and Gamma-Gamma Coincidence” to “Integral Test and Analysis for DVI-Line Break SBLOCA with SNUF”. MEGO. (That was a favorite expression of a shipmate of mine back in the day – it stands for My Eyes Glaze Over – and it is what he said when someone entered into a jargon filled technical explanation of a topic that got lost in the explanation.)
I looked over the list of discussions and decided that “Small-Scale Reactors for GNEP-panel” looked to be right up my alley. (GNEP stands for Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.)
The talks in that session included the following topics:
- Nuclear Energy’s Role in Sustainable Development
- SMR (Small Medium Reactor) Requirements and Technology Needs for GNEP
- Nonproliferation Considerations and Issues for Global SMR Deployment
- Licensing Considerations and Issues for Global SMR Deployment
- Options for SMRs to Overcome Loss of Economies of Scale and Incorporate Increased Proliferation-Resistance and Security
I recorded the talks and plan to share the highlights as an episode on The Atomic Show.
(Geeky Aside: I bought myself a new “tool” for the conference – an 8GB iPod Nano with a Griffin TuneTalk Stereo microphone. Do not believe anyone – even an Apple Store Genius – who tries to tell you that the Nano cannot do voice recordings. This is a sweet set-up and you are going to be impressed with the quality of the meeting recordings once I have finished breaking them into logical sections.)
At the end of the day, there was a General Chair’s Special Session titled “Nonproliferation and Security” with some invited speakers that included Susan Eisenhower – President, Eisenhower Group, Inc. (and daughter of my hero, Ike), Laura Schmidt-Williams – Deputy Director, International Science and Technology Center, Moscow, Russia, Paula DeSutter – Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance, Scott Campbell, President, American Council on Global Nuclear Competitiveness. I think there was one more speaker, but I neglected to jot down the name. If, by any remote chance, you happened to be there and have the name, I would appreciate it.
I have some notes from the session that I will compose into a more detailed comment or article for Atomic Insights. I really want to tell you about the discussion that I had with Ms. DeSutter after the session, but I am governed by the tyranny of the clock right now.
