CHATTANOOGA ENGINEERS CLUB

  http://www.chattanooga.net/engineer/CEC

NEXT EVENT________________________________________________

May 14, Monday, 12:00 noon Cellar at Union Square Tom Wojtalic from TVA will present  "SF6: the Hidden Impact Associated with the Industrial Use this Versatile and Effective Compound."

AT OUR LAST MEETING __________________________________________

Dr. Dodds from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville gave a presentation on the status of nuclear energy as it is today and will be in the future.

He spoke specifically on where we are today, safety issues concerning nuclear energy, waste concerns, job market for nuclear engineers, and the future of nuclear energy.  Some interesting figures he presented about where nuclear energy is today included the following.  There are 103 licensed nuclear plants in the U.S. and 450 worldwide.  These plants provide only 20% of the nations energy needs.  Tennessee Valley's nuclear generation is somewhat higher at 29%.  Since there have been no new plants since 1973, existing plants are being upgraded by an equivalent of building 23 new plants.  Due somewhat in part to the crisis in California, the public's outlook on nuclear energy is softening.  In Oct. 1999, 42% approved of nuclear energy, in Jan. 2001, 51% approved, and in Mar. 2001, already 66% approved of nuclear energy.  Nuclear energy is also the cheapest to generate.  Nuclear - 1.83 cents, Coal - 2.07 cents, Oil - 3.18 cents, Natural Gas - 3.52 cents, all per unit kilowatt hours.  He spoke of safety saying no one in the US has been killed as a result of nuclear energy.  A plant like Chernobyl would never be approved for operations in the U.S.  As far as the environment is concerned, nuclear power is green power.  The waste facilities are small and usually on-site.  He stated that radioactive waste is a political problem, not a technical one.  The waste generated from the Cold War has been stored successfully for 55 years.  In addition, the waste from 100 nuclear plants is less than one-tenth (by volume) the waste generated from the Cold War.  The job market for Nuclear Engineers exceeds the supply graduating college thereby driving up their salaries.  NE's are second in salary only to petroleum engineers.  The future of nuclear energy is bright because of recent R&D activities being seen.  There is in development a generation IV nuclear plant which will be a smaller scale, mass- produced unit plant.   He expects to see orders for new plants in 5 to 10 years.

Thanks to the write up provided by Brad Baucom.

FUTURE MONDAY MEETINGS ______________________________________

May 21:  "A Day-time Corona Camera for Surveying Power Transmission Lines and      Substations". - Barry Gore - TVA

May 28:   No meeting - In observance of Memorial Day

June 4: "SWAT Jobs and Porto-Sags -- Peeling the Power Quality Onion"   - Arshad Mansoor, Engineering Manager, EPRI-PEAC, Knoxville

June 11: "TVA's Regenesys Project - Installation of a 12 -Mw Flow Battery for Peak Shaving and Load Shifting".  - Joe Hogland and Mick Ray - TVA

June 18: "The Electric Power Industry - Its History and Likely Future".

Terry Boston - TVA

June 25: "Intelligent Transportation Systems" Dr. Rekha Pillai - Oak Ridge National Lab