About Student Outreach

June 18: Fast Reactor Physics & Ice Cream Social

A few snapshots taken at the "Fast Reactor Physics & Isotopics" Seminar (June 18, 2009) and the ice cream social immediately following the seminar.

The seminar series aims to provide students with technical information in areas not usually covered by university courses. In the case of reactor physics, most university coursework covers only the physics of thermal reactors. This first seminar of the series addressed how fast reactor physics differs from thermal reactor physics, and how the fast spectrum allows pursuit of various strategic objectives, e.g., resource extension, actinide burnup in lieu of disposal, and weapons material disposition. The students came away from the seminar with a clear understanding of what is unique about the physics of fast reactors.

The seminar was followed by an NE division ice cream social, giving the summer students, as well as professionals serving summer appointments in NE, an opportunity to meet members of the NE staff in an informal setting. Delicious sundaes and energizing conversation between students and staff were enjoyed by all.

July 14: Tour of the sodium plugging loop experimental setup in Bldg. 370

Fourteen university students and one high school teacher, all of whom are participating in summer appointments at Argonne, toured the Nuclear Engineering Division sodium plugging loop experiment. The experiment is part of the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative work being conducted at Argonne on sodium components testing for advanced sodium-cooled reactor designs.

Dr. Yoichi Momozaki, the lead experimentalist on the project, gave a summary about the experiment to the entire group, then took groups of five people at a time into the test facility for a detailed look at the experiment apparatus. He commented afterwards on how gratifying it was to have so many people interested in learning about the experiment and how well impressed he was with the level and breadth of questions that the students put to him.

Visit our website for Students and Teachers:
"Nuclear Energy Learning Resources for Home and School" at http://students.ne.anl.gov/schools/