Greater New York Chapter of the Health Physics Society

Serving New York City,  Long Island, and the Lower Hudson Valley

Specialists in Radiation Safety  •  Chartered 1963  •  www.hpschapters.org/gnychps

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Meeting Announcement

The Metropolitan New York Section of the American Nuclear Society

And

The Greater New York Chapter of the Health Physics Society

Present:

Friday, October 23, 2009

Greater New York Chapter Holds a Nuclear Renaissance Symposium

A Nuclear Renaissance Symposium was cosponsored by the Greater New York Chapter of the Health Physics Society (GNYCHPS) and the Metropolitan New York Section of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) on 23 October 2009 at the Hotel Thayer in West Point, New York. A total of 94 persons attended and represented a wide variety of affiliations and backgrounds. Of these, eight were speakers, five vendors with exhibits, about 20 cadets from the military academy, and the rest from a variety of affiliations. Attendees' affiliations included health physics organizations, nuclear power facilities, academic institutions (Manhattan College, Columbia University, United States Military Academy), local government organizations, consultants, and retirees from the nuclear industry. 

The event was organized by Lawrence Dauer, GNYCHPS, and Al Strasser, ANS. They were assisted by Major Robert Prins, HPS, and Larry Skoski, ANS.

Al Strasser gave an overview of the true nuclear renaissance in some countries as well as the continued aggressive development of nuclear power in countries outside the United States.

Tom Sanders, president of ANS, summarized the current and planned status of nuclear power generation in the United States and the promising increase in graduates from nuclear engineering curricula. His main message was that the U.S. technology for designing and building new plants is being exported to other countries and that large reactors will be imported in the future to the United States from other countries. The market we should now develop is the one for smaller units that can be exported to countries with smaller power demands, hence the title of his talk: "Defining the Role for the 'Right Sized Reactor.'"

Don Schutz, former president of Teledyne Isotopes, followed by justifying nuclear as a sustainable energy source and discussing the factors that make it so. Some interesting numbers he gave were that the emission-free electricity generation in the United States in 2007 was 74 percent nuclear, 22 percent hydro, and 4 percent solar, wind, and geothermal. He gave figures that showed the significantly lower accident rates in the nuclear industry compared to other industries. He emphasized that maintaining sustainability will need the development and operation of fast breeder reactors. Finally he analyzed the public fears of nuclear power.

Tom Mulford, managing director of Advanced Nuclear Technology Programs at Electric Power Research Institute, summarized the advances in performance levels of the currently operating plants and their contribution to CO2 reduction, as well as their potential increased contribution as the result of a renaissance. There are 32 new nuclear units under consideration at 21 sites under 20 different operators. He described the technology of the five new light water reactors (LWR) under consideration and compared current and projected nuclear generation costs to that of other power sources.

Joseph DeRoy, vice president of Entergy, presented the utility view of the renaissance as it related to Entergy. He described Entergy's current and planned sources of energy, which include nuclear and gas. He noted that to replace nuclear power in the United States with wind power, one would have windmills over the entire area of West Virginia or with solar, over the entire area of New Jersey-either one operating an unrealistic 100 percent of the time. He noted that the challenges for new nuclear plants are licensing, contracting, cost/financing, skilled labor, and the supply chain. An unregulated environment versus a regulated one will affect the economic risk for the utility, and financing without loan guarantees or other backups would not be possible. Finally, he gave some statistics of the skilled manpower problem due to an aging population and reduced staffs and the solutions they are applying to fix this issue.

Michael Johnson, the director of the Office of New Reactors, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, summarized the licensing process for the new reactors and its status and schedule for the new plants applied for. He discussed some of the insights they are gaining through this experience. He estimated that the first fuel loading in a new LWR may occur in 2016. Finally, he discussed the approach and schedule for licensing advanced (Gen IV) reactors, particularly the small modular reactors.

Steve Kraft, director of Used Fuel Management at the Nuclear Energy Institute, discussed the various phases of the back end of the fuel cycle including interim storage, recycling in advanced recycle reactors, and disposal in permanent geologic repositories. He summarized the opposition to Yucca Mountain and the Blue Ribbon Panel that is to evaluate and recommend the approach to permanent disposal including the Yucca Mountain option. He gave some interesting results of polls made of populations living near nuclear plants: 92 percent believe that nuclear will play an important role in the future energy mix and 90 percent were favorable to a nearby nuclear plant. There was a significant drop to 56 percent who believe spent fuel can be stored safely at the nuclear plant until moved to permanent storage, and 82 percent want Yucca Mountain completed and assurance that spent fuel will not stay at the plant.

Dauer, health physicist and radiation safety manager at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, gave the final talk on the history and advancements in nuclear medicine, starting with the use of radium until today's developments. He summarized the various isotopes used for diagnostics and treatment of cancers and the source of the isotopes. The uses of various types of radiation for detection and treatment of cancers described the latest combination of CT and PET scanning for more accurate and effective treatments. Nuclear medicine is in a continuing renaissance; it has been advancing rapidly ever since the discovery and utilization of x rays. He noted that there are particular challenges that need to be overcome to ensure continued nuclear medicine development, including consistent supply and access to medical isotopes, slow process of drug approvals, and anticipated regulatory changes.

October 2008 Meeting with New Jersey Chapter

January 2008 Meeting

November 2007 Meeting with New Jersey Chapter

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November 2006 Meeting with New Jersey Chapter

January 2006 Meeting

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This page was last modified on October 19, 2011 by Thomas P. Johnston.