Friday, September 14, 2012

Mixing it up over MOX - a wrapup from Chattanooga



UTK ANS students

Strong turnout



No zombies, but zombie arguments



  • These reactors "weren't designed" for MOX fuel
  • MOX fuel is ill-understood and experimental

Thermal output


Reactor physics of MOX fuel






Pu composition by reactor type



Everyone's a reactor engineer...



...or an economist




The importance of being nice





Showing up matters




Final thoughts




  1. Steve. Thank you for the great, vivid and explanatory blog post on the meeting! I feel as if I had been there, and I also learned some things about MOX.

    Thank you for mentioning me so positively several times. However, Howard Shaffer does as much as I do, and he has been doing it longer. He has been a pro-nuclear advocate for thirty years!

    I think my blog puts me more in the public eye within the nuclear community, because...there I am, always blogging away. But in terms of actual pro-nuclear activism, Howard is the person to follow.

    1. Twin patron saints then? ;-) No reason to be modest - a lot of us draw inspiration from both you and Howard's efforts.

  2. Thank you for an excellent review of your meeting regarding utilizing spent weapons-grade fuel for energy production. As a budding engineer interested in energy resources, This is a very interesting topic. However, I am unfortunately disappointed at your harsh stabs at activists.

    While I know that many times activists are misinformed, it is our responsibility to embrace people who take the time to care about these issues. You state in your last paragraph, "Events like this fulfill a vital part of the role of organizations like ANS to inform the public". Your remarks against activists blatantly contradicts this statement.

    It is clear that a main point of your article is to address the issues raised by public attendants who were misinformed. However, by writing so abrasively you are turning away the audience you seem to be writing for. The "good ol' boys" club style of writing does not help foster relations with the general public. In fact, it helps to further alienate engineers from the general public, promotes misinformation, and worst of all adds fuel to the fire that sensationalist "activists" often like to create.

    I appreciate the work being done to figure out ways of utilizing weapons grade plutonium. It is a difficult problem that needs to be addressed. Likewise, everyone has concerns regarding nuclear energy. These concerns should be welcomed and addressed respectfully.

    Warm Regards,
    Jerome Carman, EIT 145943

    1. @Jerome: You make some fair points - and again, if my writing comes across as overly harsh, I would go back to my key point of emphasis in dealing with these kinds of situations in-person - the importance of being polite and civil in disagreements. And in fact a few good conversations between the parties did come about after the meeting - myself I answered some genuine questions from an opponent about some of the basic reactor physics involved. So I remain hopeful.

      But I feel as if I should also defend myself a bit here. It is one thing to be misinformed, but entirely another to proudly propagate lies and half-truths in service of a cause, or worse yet denigrate genuine experts as "cheerleaders." There's simply no other way to put it - either these activists don't know what they're talking about - which means they have no business making authoritative technical claims - or worse, they know better, which indicates deliberate intent to deceive. Neither one should be tolerated.

      That being said, I feel like I've gone out of my way to be fair to the arguments being made by the activists, representing their arguments as faithfully and honestly as possible, so I'm really unsure of where you've come to the conclusion that I've been overly harsh. Especially given that unlike some of the activists, I have refused to engage in name-calling and speculation as to malicious motives.

    2. Thank you for your reply Steve.

      I did not clearly communicate what I appreciate about your report. It is clear that you are taking the time to communicate answers to questions raised by public attendants, and you provide excellent and clear information. In addition, the sections "The Importance Of Being Nice" and "Showing Up Matters" provide excellent advise for field experts and truly show you are concerned and interested in fostering communication.

      Further, it is completely understandable, and clear by your writing, that there is much frustration surrounding the all-to-common occurance of uninformed activists being the loudest voice "for the public". I too find it quite frustrating. Your appreciation for the honesty by the particular woman attendant you address emphasizes this.

      It is because of the contrast between the first few paragraphs and your clear interest in fostering communication that I chose to respond. The first few paragraphs include strong stabs against activists and use offensive name calling with the words "zombie" and "necromancer". I completely understand and relate to these opinions. Further, I would likely use similar terms when expressing my feelings privately. However, if I were the woman whom you show respect for, I would have stopped reading this post after the first paragraph. It is because of this perspective that I decided to write you.

      I have complete respect and admiration for the work you are doing to inform the public. Perhaps my comments are splitting hairs more than anything. Yet, I feel that, because there is "no shortage of passion" regarding public opinion, it is important to be cautious regarding our public voice. Most people already feel daunted by the amount of information required to make educated decisions about such complicated topics. This means it is doubly important that we minimize all boundaries that could discourage sensible public engagement.

      Jerome Carman, EIT 145943

    3. "The first few paragraphs include strong stabs against activists and use offensive name calling with the words "zombie" and "necromancer"."

      That is not name-calling.  That is how the "street theater" activists have often styled themselves; they make themselves up as zombies.