This year’s Indy 500 was exciting both on and off the track. The day before the race, 75 Girl Scouts descended on the KV Racing Technology hospitality tent for a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) workshop.

When I arrived at the tent, the girls were divided between five different activities exploring the technology behind racing and electricity. A Girl Scout from each activity described what they had learned throughout the afternoon: the role of thrust, lift and drag on my Nuclear Clean Air Energy IndyCar, how to generate electricity using a homemade generator, nuclear fission, and the importance of engineering design in buildings. Each of these activities was led by AREVA engineers and volunteers from the Purdue Minority Engineering Program and the Nuclear Energy Institute. The Girl Scouts also explored the anatomy of an atom through a painting activity with Suzy Hobbs Baker of the Nuclear Literacy Project, and gave me the final product as a gift – I think it turned out really cool.

The workshop was a great way to raise awareness of clean energy and to engage the girls in activities that reinforce that science and engineering are both important and fun. After rotating through all five activities, the girls earned a special Nuclear Clean Air Energy patch for their hard work.

Both racing and clean energy depend on people with STEM skills and we need to encourage kids to pursue STEM career paths. I think it’s cool that I’m able to engage kids through their interest in racing to think about the importance of clean energy and how they can get involved.

“AREVA is at the forefront of a daily nuclear energy renewal that is rooted in our people and our responsibility to put safety first and foremost in everything that we do,” said Mike Rencheck, CEO, AREVA Inc. “Platts Energy Week TV was the ideal venue for sharing this vision due to its reputation and influence among key stakeholders in the energy industry.”

In the interview, Mr. Rencheck discussed the highly competitive North American electric power market, as well as politics surrounding the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project (MFFF) designed to make reactor fuel from nuclear-weapons-grade plutonium, a project that recently reached 15 million safe-hours worked.

Safe used fuel management is forward-looking. It is about keeping our options open, knowing that the solution can be managed from different angles that can provide a variety of benefits, all of which could be realized now … from interim storage to recycling to ultimate safe disposal. We have a responsibility to safely manage today’s used fuel to create a better future for generations to come.

Through AREVA’s subsidiary, Transnuclear, Inc., we are already leading the way in safely storing used nuclear fuel. Transnuclear is the U.S. market leader in safe used fuel storage solutions.

With its proven and versatile NUHOMS® Dry Shielded Canister System, Transnuclear meets nuclear plant needs with robust and low risk used fuel storage solutions. Its advanced technology — featuring an engineered Dry Shielded Canister and Horizontal Storage Module — provides the lowest dose rates in the industry and a low life cycle cost, and is proven for high seismic and tornado tolerance, and other external hazards. With the rollout of the next generation of NUHOMS® canister, the NUHOMS EOS (Extended Optimized Storage), Transnuclear will add an even higher capacity, heat load and burn-up option to meet the continued needs of nuclear plants well into the second half of the century.
Providing “as promised” performance for both BWR and PWR used fuel, the Transnuclear NUHOMS® technology offers the nuclear industry several key advantages:

• Low life-cycle costs
• Low plant risk
• Superior shielding performance
• Superior seismic capabilities
• Enhanced ruggedness and resistance to flooding
• Increased passive heat rejection capabilities

Transnuclear also hosts NUHOMS University, a unique training facility located in Aiken, S.C., that is the first in the United States to use full-scale working casks and trailers for training purposes. The training program was created to respond to customer expectations on human performance in all aspects of nuclear plant operations. As a result of this stringent training, the Transnuclear Pool to Pad team completed more than 40 consecutive loadings that have been error-free and remarkably low-dose … with no change orders.

Also, NUHOMS Dry Shielded Canisters are designed for offsite shipping using Transnuclear’s licensed MP197HB transportation package, currently in construction. For special applications, Transnuclear also provides metal storage casks.

AREVA believes that current and future used nuclear fuel inventories require that an integrated approach to used fuel management— including interim storage, recycling and ultimate disposal— is essential for a sustainable nuclear fuel cycle. In the meantime, Transnuclear is leading the way with safe and innovative used nuclear fuel storage and transportation solutions that will set the standard for the U.S. nuclear industry for several decades.

In 1998, the United States and Russia committed to each other and the world that each country would permanently convert 34 tons of weapons grade plutonium into non-weapons material. After extensive research and analysis of multiple options, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) chose to convert the plutonium into fuel for the American nuclear reactor fleet as a low cost fuel supply for decades of low carbon electricity production. The DOE affirmed its decision in the July 2012 Draft Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, stating on page S-33: “The MOX Fuel Alternative is DOE’s Preferred Alternative for surplus plutonium disposition.”

The MOX Project—a first-of-its-kind U.S. nuclear facility being built to fulfill our agreement—is 60% complete, but now the Administration’s 2014 budget proposes to underfund the program and effectively abandon the project’s completion.

There are four options to address America’s nonproliferation agreement and manage our 34-ton stockpile of surplus weapons-grade plutonium. Each option should be evaluated on the criteria of time, money, security and environmental impact:

1. Complete the MOX Project and permanently reduce the plutonium into nuclear fuel for U.S. power plants to generate electricity. At more than 60% complete and based on 30 years of successful European MOX production, the MOX Project has already progressed through many of the common large project hurdles and expenses of design revisions, project scope expansion, construction methods development, workforce training, and national supply chain development. America has already benefited from this investment in rebuilding our atrophied nuclear energy capabilities and knowledge, as seen in the 2,300 jobs created onsite in South Carolina, the extensive 40-state supply chain, and the ready workforce for the first new U.S. nuclear reactors in decades now under construction. American homes and businesses will further benefit from less expensive electricity generated by utilities buying and using the low cost MOX nuclear fuel, already confirmed as a safe, viable solution through a U.S. utility’s test evaluation. Since the weapons-grade plutonium permanently changes when used as MOX fuel, the security threat is eliminated while at the same time avoiding the ongoing expense of long-term storage and any environmental impact.
2. Continue to stockpile the plutonium inside nested boundaries of fences, security forces, and hardened facilities. This expensive and higher risk approach fails to honor and satisfy our international obligation. The extracted weapons-grade plutonium remains stockpiled in small canisters, a perpetual potential terrorist target, significant budget expense, and potential environmental hazard. Sequestering this wasted resource abandons the benefit that could be derived by using this weapons material for peaceful purposes.
3. Build a full-scale fast reactor to “burn up” the plutonium. Russia selected and began building this new nuclear reactor concept to fulfill its commitment, and has stated they will complete construction of the first reactor in a few years. If America were to abandon the 60% complete investment in the MOX Project and instead start over with considering a full-scale fast reactor, we would begin anew with decades of significant technical and cost implications for designing, licensing, and constructing an unproven concept, including the research, processing and resolution of an Environmental Impact Statement.
4. Build a vitrification plant to embed the weapons-grade plutonium in glass for long-term nuclear waste storage. Strangely enough, the option that proposes to store and maintain all current and future weapons-grade plutonium in a massive long-term nuclear waste facility is the option advocated by some anti-nuclear environmentalists. Since this approach does not irreversibly destroy the plutonium, it fails to honor and satisfy our international obligation. As with the fast reactor concept, if we were to abandon our 60% complete investment in the MOX Project and instead start over, we would begin anew with decades of significant budget costs for designing, licensing, and constructing the vitrification plant, plus the unknown expenses, timeline and environmental assessment for constructing an as-yet unidentified geologic nuclear waste facility to receive the vitrification plant’s steady output of nuclear waste canisters containing unconverted, glass-embedded plutonium.

Of these four options, the solution is clear: Maintaining current funding and completing the MOX Project

• continues the near-term fulfillment of America’s nonproliferation commitment;
• energizes and delivers ongoing national employment and economic benefits;
• avoids starting over with decades of legislative process and undefined costs for 
re-evaluating, selecting and developing an alternative option; and,
• permanently eliminates a global security threat while generating low carbon electricity for American homes and businesses.

Achieving any one of these results would be significant for our country and a valuable return on budget investment.

MOX Project delivers on all of the above.

In the article, Kelly Trice, Shaw AREVA MOX Services president and COO, explains specifically what this could mean:

“A significant cut in funding or delay in the project, as it stands, would leave an 80-foot-tall, multibillion dollar building with 110 holes in it, at the mercy of the elements. Beyond this are significant amounts of equipment that need regular maintenance and 400 outstanding contracts, to contractors in 40 states, valued around $500 million to fabricate equipment, which would have to be paid off…However, Trice said he remains confident and believes that the administration supports the project and the funding would be made available. But that he had not seen the FY 14 Budget, due to be announced next week.”

We’ll provide more perspective as the FY 14 Budget surfaces, but be sure to be informed on the important issues, including what crucial security and economic benefits the MOX Project represents, and how budget cuts could endanger America honoring its international agreements.

Moniz addressed a range of topics, including his support for nuclear energy, small modular reactors, and a consent-based process for managing used nuclear fuel.

He also engaged in a thorough and substantive exchange with South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who posed a series of important questions related to the MOX Project under construction in his state.

Senator Scott’s focus on the fiscal and international consequences of failure to complete the MOX Project highlight the two choices facing the Congress:

1.) Secure funding to complete the 60% constructed MOX Project, delivering energy security and economic benefits while converting enough plutonium for 17,000 warheads into a form that can never be reusable for weapons or any other military purpose; or

2.) Suspend the MOX Project, diminishing U.S. credibility in future international negotiations and exposing taxpayers to the fiscal ramifications, including substantial costs to continue securing and storing weapons material on-site, payment of $1,000,000 a day in fines from the U.S. government to South Carolina for not meeting original project obligations, and the unknowable cost to pursue alternatives to MOX previously determined in the United States and throughout the world to be either inadequate or unproven.

Details in the video posted to Senator Scott’s site [direct link: http://www.youtube.com/embed/CaRxa1lms44?rel=0]…

I had the pleasure of attending the 16th Annual Einstein Society Gala this past weekend at the National Museum of Nuclear Science in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The gala is held to celebrate Dr. Albert Einstein’s birthday and his contributions to humanity, and bestow the National Award of Nuclear Science and History to honor individuals making remarkable impacts in the nuclear science field. This year’s award was presented to Admiral Kirkland H. Donald, USN, Ret., who served as Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.

In addition to celebrating such esteemed individuals, the Gala is one of the biggest fundraisers for the National Museum of Nuclear Science. AREVA helped sponsor the museum’s off-base relocation from Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico to southwest Albuquerque, and supports its mission “to serve as America’s resource for nuclear history and science through exhibits and quality educational programs conveying the diversity of individuals and events shaping the historical and technical context of the nuclear age.”

Many of the museum’s focal points are science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—or STEM— activities for students, including week-long science camps in affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution. Each science camp is catered to a specific age-range to teach kids about topics varying from rockets, dinosaur fossils, green initiatives, and even nanotechnology! Also throughout the museum are hands-on exhibits that allow for visitors to explore and interact, and on weekends volunteers from the local high-schools demonstrate various science experiments.

If you’re ever in Albuquerque, I recommend visiting the National Museum of Nuclear Science to see for yourself!

On March 14th, Tejiri Bolano and I were given the opportunity to represent AREVA Women in Nuclear at the Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment (WCEE) Woman of the Year Award Banquet. For more than 30 years, WCEE has provided leadership support, professional development and networking opportunities for Washington-area professionals focusing on women, energy, and the environment. Hundreds of women and men from industries related to energy and the environment attended the banquet at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C.

The Woman of the Year Award honors a woman of recognized stature in the energy and/or environment fields. The award was created in 1985, and past recipients include a US Senator, the Executive VP of Exelon, and a NOAA Administrator. This year’s recipient was the Honorable Kristine L. Svinicki of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Commissionner Svinicki has a distinguished career as a nuclear engineer and policy advisor working at the state and federal levels of government in both the legislative and executive branches. Through her acceptance speech, it was clear that she is a lighthearted and captivating speaker. She shared information about her journey throughout her career and her affinity for corny jokes and love of literature. She spoke humbly about her success, claiming it was a shared journey, and that she appreciated those who had challenged her along the way. Commissionner Svinicki stated that she “wouldn’t trade any of it, even the tough stuff.” I especially appreciated a quote that she shared from John Adams: “Public business must always be done by somebody … If wise men decline it, others will not. If honest men refuse it, others will not.” She spoke of her passion for public service as part of the NRC and her past government positions, and encouraged us each to find a purposeful calling.

As AREVA Design Engineering employees from Charlotte, it was a great opportunity for Tejiri and me to learn more about other branches of AREVA North America, and to speak directly with co-workers about their specific roles and contributions to the company. For dinner and the Awards Ceremony, we were seated with eight AREVA representatives from the Columbia, Bethesda, and Lynchburg offices who work in Transnuclear, AREVA Solar, Quality, and Sustainable Development. Three of our female executives also joined us: Cassie Hagan (VP of Communications), Mary-Alice Hayward (VP of Corporate Strategy), and Tara Neider (President & CEO of AREVA Federal Services).

Overall, this was a great evening of networking, learning more about our company and industry, and inspiration from women of influence in the field of energy. It was a great to collaborate with other AREVA women in an informal atmosphere, and to further build on our understanding of the industry and the power that we each have to make an impact.

As the first major nuclear-grade construction project in more than 20 years and the first-of-its-kind facility in the U.S., the MOX Project is a national and economic investment in establishing a nuclear-certified national supply chain, developing and fine-tuning new construction processes, and training a highly skilled, 2,200-person workforce from the ground up.

The MOX Project supply chain already reaches coast-to-coast, purchasing materials and equipment from 39 states in businesses employing more than 4,100 Americans—and what a wealth of material and economic benefit it represents. The latest MOX Project factsheet [PDF file] lists the expected final tally as:

• Concrete: 170,000 cubic yards
• Reinforcing Steel: 35,000 tons
• Process Piping: 85 miles
• HVAC duct work: 1,000 tons
• Conduit: 500,000 linear feet
• Cable Tray: 47,000 linear feet
• Power/Control Cable: 3,600,000 linear feet
• Process Systems: 300
• MFFF and Support Facilities Size: 600,000 square feet

Managing any national construction project of this scope would be a challenge in terms of worker safety, material costs, and regulatory compliance. Impressively, the MOX Project construction workers have achieved more than 14.5 million safe work hours without an accident causing a lost workday. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a typical site would have averaged 112 lost workdays. This determined focus on employees’ safety and well-being requires paced, carefully considered fulfillment of daily tasks in a complex construction environment.

Material costs are also closely managed, but when purchasing, transporting, and working with quantities like those listed above, even a moderate increase in costs can significantly impact project expenses. One unfortunate result of the MOX Project’s unique nuclear-grade training and construction experience is the recruitment of these highly skilled workers away from MOX Project to go work on the two new nuclear reactor projects. The ongoing loss of these MOX-trained workers requires constant replenishing, training, and investment in new construction employees. But development continues, and the NRC recently acknowledged appropriate progress was being made in the construction of MOX Project.

In all, the MOX Project is accomplishing the task and challenges of delivering on America’s nonproliferation commitment, and also leading the economic renewal of American nuclear energy supply chains and competencies.

Photo credit: Shaw AREVA MOX Services

Gorton writes an imported editorial in this week’s Tri-City Herald newspaper, warning of the effects of the current budget battles on key nonproliferation projects ensuring the safety of nuclear material:

“One very clear danger that remains is that of nuclear weapons material falling into the hands of terrorists, like al-Qaida and its affiliates. … We must not let that happen. With sequestration, tight budget times and partisan squabbling in Washington, D.C., these days, there is the danger of important programs that secure and dispose of nuclear material will be scaled back or eliminated.”

The Senator specifically references our work at the Savannah River site as an example of this:

“The National Nuclear Security Administration is building a MOX facility at the government’s Savannah River Site that will render the plutonium unusable in nuclear weapons or devices and convert it to fuel assemblies that will be burned in U.S. nuclear power reactors. Some want to delay this important plutonium disposition, which would be a critical mistake. Every dollar diverted delays the effort to get rid of plutonium, and every delay provides more time for the material to be stolen.”

He closes with this strong point:

“… the United States government must remain on guard for all threats. We also must continue to secure and dispose of dangerous nuclear weapons material. It is vital that we continue with the MOX Project to dispose of plutonium, and we need to find a way to renew HEU disposition efforts while minimizing uses for the material. Our children and grandchildren depend on it.”

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