Last Friday, Gary Petersen and a group of parents and students involved in home schooling in the Toledo area visited the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant. Congrats to Chip Palazzo and everyone at First Energy for continuing to reach out to the community and tell our industry's story.
The following is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at @MattLWald.
From the batteries in our cell phones to the clothes on our backs, "nanomaterials" that are designed molecule by molecule are working their way into our economy and our lives. Now there’s some promising work on new materials for nuclear reactors.
Reactors are a tough environment. The sub atomic particles that sustain the chain reaction, neutrons, are great for splitting additional uranium atoms, but not all of them hit a uranium atom; some of them end up in various metal components of the reactor. The metal is usually a crystalline structure, meaning it is as orderly as a ladder or a sheet of graph paper, but the neutrons rearrange the atoms, leaving some infinitesimal voids in the structure and some areas of extra density. The components literally grow, getting longer and thicker. The phenomenon is well understood and designers compensate for it with a …
From the batteries in our cell phones to the clothes on our backs, "nanomaterials" that are designed molecule by molecule are working their way into our economy and our lives. Now there’s some promising work on new materials for nuclear reactors.
Reactors are a tough environment. The sub atomic particles that sustain the chain reaction, neutrons, are great for splitting additional uranium atoms, but not all of them hit a uranium atom; some of them end up in various metal components of the reactor. The metal is usually a crystalline structure, meaning it is as orderly as a ladder or a sheet of graph paper, but the neutrons rearrange the atoms, leaving some infinitesimal voids in the structure and some areas of extra density. The components literally grow, getting longer and thicker. The phenomenon is well understood and designers compensate for it with a …
Comments
Seriously, I cannot think of a worse face for this industry than FENOC. They 've done more than anyone to damage our reputation and should shut-up.
Chip was great, both in the tour and in catching the article I wrote on my weblog and commenting on it.
I've been in the business of communications for more than 20 years and I can tell you - in all my years in various leadership capacities - I've never been as proud as I am now to represent FENOC and the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station to the communities we serve... and that includes sharing information with enthusiastic students interested in how we generate clean electric power.
The caliber of leadership in place at Davis-Besse and the 800+ who come through these gates every day is second to none. Their commitment to the safe, reliable efficient operation of this plant is evident 24/7/365.
It's a privilege to represent a team whose passion and commitment to doing the right thing IS the priority - as it is across the entire FENOC Fleet.