Careers in Nuclear with an AA Degree and Art In Nuclear. Nuclear Science Week Special.

This is National Nuclear Science Week, and with everything else going on, it almost escaped me. Here's a taste of it: Careers and Art.

Careers: John Wheeler and the Value of A Nuclear Education

When Howard and I visited a charter high school in Massachusetts, many of the students had questions about jobs in the nuclear industry:

• What kinds of jobs are available in nuclear energy?
• What are the requirements to obtain these jobs?

John Wheeler posted about nuclear energy careers this week. I wish we had John Wheeler's blog post available when we went to the Massachusetts high school. However, Wheeler hadn't yet written his post at that time!

In Explore a Great Career In Nuclear Energy, Wheeler gives an overview of nuclear careers, especially careers that start with the new curriculum for an Associates (AA) degree in Nuclear Energy. This uniform nuclear program is available at 40 community colleges around the country. The degree is recognized at all nuclear plants in the U.S. After graduation with this degree, jobs at power plants start at around $45,000 a year. Actually, these are careers, not just jobs, with a clear path to more responsibility, education, and money.

Since two years at a community college usually costs no more than $6,000, a nuclear AA degree is probably the most cost-effective career program available. Also, these nuclear jobs cannot be outsourced to any other country, because the plants are right here.

And some nuclear plants aren't right here. There's a huge number of new builds abroad, and some of those countries are already recruiting experienced American workers. A young person with a spirit of adventure can choose a wonderful international career.

Art: Knowledge Through Art

Jobs are important, and so is art. Suzanne Hobbs Baker is founder of PopAtomic Studios, a not-for-profit enterprise whose motto is Energy--Knowledge Through Art. (I am on the Board of Directors of PopAtomic.) We carried several PopAtomic Posters at our rallies in support of Vermont Yankee.

Baker was recently chosen to give a TEDx talk, and I embed it below. Also, a hat tip to Atomic Insights and Nuclear Street. Both blogs embedded this talk before I got around to it.

For More Fun with Nuclear Science Week

I encourage you to visit:

• Nuclear Science Week website for overviews and activities
• Nuclear Clean Air Energy site for links to presentations about nuclear science and by nuclear engineers, including what it is like to be a young woman working in nuclear energy
• ANS Nuclear Cafe, with a series of posts and picture galleries of some of the Nuclear Science Week activities
• Atomic Power Review, with a Nuclear Science Week post every day this week, including a beautifully illustrated post on Russian nuclear icebreaker ships.

87th Carnival of Nuclear Energy up at ANS Nuclear Cafe. Plus Some Other Announcements

The 87th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up a ANS Nuclear Cafe. Dan Yurman has once again put together a fascinating carnival.

There's a lot of information about mining and mineral extraction including: discussion of the decision not to mine uranium near the Grand Canyon (NEI Nuclear Notes), description of radiation releases from fracking (Nuke Power Talk), and description of China buying a uranium mine in Namibia (Next Big Future).

There's a review of The Conundrum, a book forecasting the end of energy availability. Atomic Insights wonders if the author has heard of uranium and thorium?

There's lessons from Fukushima: the Flex Strategy for nuclear safety (NEI Nuclear notes) and a new clean-up method for radioactive elements in soil (Next Big Future). There's new material development, too (Next Big Future).

New reactor deals are coming along (Idaho Samizdat) and there are new ideas of communicating about nuclear energy to women (ANS Nuclear Cafe). Meanwhile, here at Yes Vermont Yankee, there always seems to be a new lawsuit!

Other Announcements

Nuclear Science Education: National Nuclear Science Education Week starts on January 23, and I urge you to read about it at the Nuclear Science Week website. Also, a tip of the hat to Dan Yurman for his new bibliography of non-technical nuclear books. His list is a wonderful resource. I also recommend Will Davis post at Atomic Power Review on Nuclear Science Education Week, which includes links and information on getting speakers. Every day at Nuclear Science will will have a different topic, and Davis plans to cover these topics on a daily basis at Atomic Power Review. My own blog has a post about resources for high school students to learn about atomic energy.

Temporary Blog Changes: For personal reasons, I will be less available for about three weeks, starting Wednesday January 18th. There will be more guest bloggers than usual, though I will also be blogging. Also, comment moderation will be slower. Otherwise, things will be pretty much the same.

Every now and again I imagine reshaping this blog, with new formats, tabs to blog pages as well as posts, and so forth. Maybe, after three weeks of part-time blogging, I will be fired up enough to make changes! The daily grind does tend to grind down the idea of reformulating, rethinking, etc.

Resources for Nuclear Education In High Schools

Back to High School

So far, in blogging and nuclear advocacy talks, I generally speak to adult audiences. That seems to be changing.

A few weeks ago, a high school assistant principal found me on the web. This has turned into an opportunity for one of the Energy Education Project supporters (a nuclear engineer who lives near that high school) to give a talk at the high school. Then another high school teacher contacted me. That contact has become an opportunity for Howard Shaffer and me. We be talking to social studies and chemistry classes at that school.

Two days ago, a high school student from one of the Vermont Academy high schools contacted me. He wanted some help in putting together a senior project about nuclear energy. The project will be presented to the entire school.

At that point, I cried "Help!" to my American Nuclear Society Listserve, asking for information about high school curriculum materials for nuclear energy. As I expected, some very knowledgeable people led me to good resources. I am using this blog post to share the information.

Nuclear Energy Resources for High Schools

Department of Energy

A prime resource on the web is at the Department of Energy site for teachers:

http://www.ne.doe.gov/students/Track_teachers.html

This has activities, fact sheets, and brochures on nuclear power plant safety.

My evaluation: Great stuff, but you are going to have to hunt through it. Lots of good material, but uneven.

National Nuclear Science Week

Nuclear Science Week is January 23 through 27. and has a terrific website:

http://www.nuclearscienceweek.org/

This includes activities and downloads:

http://www.nuclearscienceweek.org/for-teachers-students-parents/topics-and-downloads-for-curriculum/

One of my favorite parts of the website is the day by day set of resources with links and video clips:

Getting To Know Nuclear (Monday)

Nuclear Careers (Tuesday)

My evaluation: This site is rich, up-to-date, and easy to navigate. It can be used even if your school is not participating in Nuclear Science Week.

Energy Solutions and Power Path

Energy Solutions Foundation pioneered a curriculum for nuclear energy. This material is part of the Power Path curriculum developed by Entergy, Areva and others.

http://energysolutionsfoundation.org/

http://nuclearcleanairenergy.com/resources/education/power-path/

The Power Path site includes games, information, fact sheets, activities, and debate points for high school debaters. Power Path is truly a curriculum. Much is downloadable, other parts of the curriculum can be attained by emailing abecker@entergy.com.

The Power Path Curriculum is available and approved for use in several states.

My Evaluation: Power Path is excellent. It seems to be the most complete and organized of nuclear energy resources for high schools. I recommend it highly,

No, I am not just saying this because Entergy owns Vermont Yankee and is also a sponsor of Power Path! I am saying it because people on my ANS Listserve have used Power Path materials in their children's schools, and they said the materials were great. Of all the resources I have listed in this post, this is the only one for which I have user-feedback.

Facts on File Books

Facts on File (a publisher) is coming out with a series of six books about nuclear energy.

http://www.infobasepublishing.com/Series.aspx?SeriesISBN=084944

The book titles include:

• Radiation
• History of Nuclear Power
• Nuclear Accidents and Disaster

The books are meant for high school and college libraries. Some books available now; some will be available early next year.

My Evaluation: I haven't read these books, and they are pretty pricey at $45 each. However, all the books are written by James Mahaffey, a Ph.D. who wrote the excellent book Atomic Awakening. That book is on my Kindle, and it is clear, authoritative, and amusing. I expect these books are also excellent.

Conclusion

There are many resources available for talking and teaching about nuclear energy in high schools. I hope my readers will add even more, in the comment section.

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Afterword: Academies in Vermont. In the mind-1800s in Vermont, many Academies were founded as private secondary schools. Later, when the Vermont townships decided to provide secondary education for everyone, the Academies were already in place. The townships chose to provide tuition vouchers for the Academies rather than set up rival and redundant schools. Nowadays, the Academies take tuition vouchers from local school districts, and they also take private paying students. They are usually still private schools (sort of). The Academies have long traditions and high standards, and are very Vermont. I decided to illustrate this post with graphics of two of the Academies.

Thetford Academy Woodcut from Wikipedia

Colby Hall at St. Johnsbury Academy from Wikipedia.