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Nuclear Speed Dating

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The idea of nuclear professionals gathering in a Starbucks and exchanging their credentials with an eye toward future happiness has a certain appeal. And perhaps as quickly as it takes an atom to split. Love at first fission.

But the Department of Energy has a (slightly) different idea in mind:

The future of nuclear energy needs smart, creative thinkers. That's why more than 120 experts met up last week to "speed-date" each other's ideas.

To its credit, DOE did pick a beautiful location, Boise, which is near the Idaho National Labs, for one of the meeting sites. So that’s one point in DOE’s favor.

The Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory led the charge. More than 120 experts gathered for simultaneous workshops in six different cities, representing National Labs, universities, nonprofits and major companies.

And you’ll note the word “energetic” in the following bit.

The workshops kicked off with energetic remarks by Dr. Lynn Orr, Undersecretary for Science and Energy. "It's about supplying the energy the world needs and at the same time doing a much better job of dealing with climate and other environmental impacts," Orr said. In essence, that's the purpose of our all-of-the-above energy strategy.

So there is a desire to sell one’s self (well, one’s ideas) with vigor. And the end result is just what you’d hope for: fusion.

To capture the best ideas and do the most good, the ideas will be analyzed and condensed into a brief summary this spring and a full report in the fall. The report will provide recommendations to federal programs dealing with nuclear energy.

Do visit the page. Lots of fun pictures of attractive professionals sitting at tables, speaking at lecterns, holding coffee cups. If the result of all this meeting and greeting is a skein of good ideas that promote nuclear and clean energy, that’s enough. But we can lean back and dream of more, can’t we?

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