Love Among the Cooling Towers

He’s young and scruffy, with puppy dog eyes:

She’s fresh and vivacious, who likes to – do – something out front of the facility (must be a windy day):

When they meet, can love be far behind?

Vodka and cooling towers? Will there be a second date?

World Nuclear News has the story of a new Russian film called Atomic Ivan (not the young fellow – his name is Vanya):

Snigirev Dobrygin and Julie Gregory take the starring roles under direction from Vasily Barkhatov, who uses family and nuclear culture to explore themes of commitment, stability and continuity between generations. Rosatom said that nuclear work is portrayed as prestigious and exciting, as complicated and intricate as personal relationships, and coming with extensive training and great responsibility.

That sounds – awful – like something the old Soviet Union would produce to extol agricultural achievements. There certainly are interesting pictures that could be made using the nuclear industry as a background, but the idea of offering a parallel between young love and an industrial setting suggests that both will come out diminished. Of course, I haven’t seen the movie – it could be a masterpiece.

A Rosatom presentation listed some of its goals in this unique public communication project: projecting an image of modern young scientists; promoting the idea of continuity of skills and culture between generations of nuclear workers; illustrating the true nature of the nuclear industry; and attracting a target audience through modern, topical cinematic language and expression.

Shoot me now. On the other hand, the stills (and young couple) are lovely and director Barkhatov said he will use film rather than video to shoot the landscape of the plant, so it will certainly have some texture. And really, funning aside, it might be good: Barkhatov might surprise us all with a touching romantic tale merged with science and industry. Time will tell.

Note: NNN reader Brian Mays tells us Vanya is the diminutive for Ivan – you don’t expect a two syllable diminutive for a two syllable name, but there you are. So I guess Atomic Ivan is indeed our hero.

Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...

Fluor Invests in NuScale

You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap...

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...

NEI Nuclear Notes

Search This Blog