107th Carnival of Nuclear Energy at Idaho Samizdat

The 107th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at Idaho Samizdat.

Brian Wang of Next Big Future blogs about the restart (within about two months) of some of Japan's nuclear reactors.  The prime minister has said that it is necessary to restart some of the reactors.  You are unlikely to read about this in the popular press.

Eric McErlain of NEI Nuclear Notes discusses that bluefin tuna: "I once caught a fish story this big!" Meanwhile, Rod Adams shows that myths about nuclear accidents lead to real illness and disruption. Dan Yurman of  Idaho Samizdat reports on up to $452 million  (cost-shared) for small modular reactor development from the Department of Energy.  Les Corrice of Hiroshima Syndrome covers events in Japan, with what could be called a "critical review" (very critical) of some official Japanese statements.

Other bloggers cover the history of Knolls Research labs (Will Davis, Atomic Power Review), advances in nuclear medicine (Robert Hayes, Science and Technology), contentious NRC meetings (me at ANS Nuclear Cafe) and NRC granting license extensions to Pilgrim and Columbia stations (me at my own blog).  Charles Barton at Nuclear Green discusses the Green party...opposed to nuclear, opposed to genetically modified grain, opposed to...well, luddites maybe?  Brian Wang also discusses China, which is once again on track to install a lot of nuclear capacity.

Reunion

I was out of town for a few days at a high school reunion. I went to University of Chicago Laboratory High School (U-High, U-High, high and mighty.  Looking for a basket, we'll find it. Win this game...).  The reunion was terrific.  Transformative, really.  I find it hard to write about this reunion.

Due to the reunion, I had to rethink "who I am" in at least one important way. My internal story about my life is that I started out as a nerd and I stayed a nerd.  In this internal story,  it's odd and unusual that I speak so often in public places. Because, after all: "I'm just a quiet type."

However, when I met the people who knew me in high school, some of them were aware that I went to college and majored in chemistry.  But many of them remembered me from high school, not as a nerd, but as one of the female leads in the senior class play.  They remembered me from the drama club and the various plays.

Until this reunion, I had forgotten my early love of drama, of being on-stage, of being part of a group effort, of speaking in public, and, yes, of receiving applause.  My inner ham-bone! All of a sudden, the Energy Education Project, speaking and debating--it  didn't seem like such a weird departure from anything I had ever done before.  After the reunion, my involvement in the Energy Education Project had a feeling of wholeness to it, a feeling of being a true part of me.

I am grateful to the reunion for giving me this insight.

More about the reunion. One of my classmates, Irving Wladawsky-Berger, has written a fabulous blog post about his personal history, his plans to come to the reunion, and his experience at U-High.  I recommend it.  If you don't read the whole thing, at least read the part about escaping from Cuba with some money hidden in a tube of talcum power....

Happy reading, of both the Carnival and Irving's blog post!

Blaine Hall at Lab School, from Wikipedia.