In early June, I had the pleasure of participating in a panel session at the American Nuclear Society’s (ANS) 2019 Annual Meeting. This year’s theme was on The Value of Nuclear and the panel I participated in was dedicated to rejuvenating nuclear technology infrastructure and facilities.
Throughout the conference I was reminded of the great value of close partnerships between nuclear power plant operators, national research facilities and industry leading suppliers of nuclear technology and services like Westinghouse. This close relationship was established at the origin of commercial nuclear power at Shippingport in 1957 and is just as important in 2019. Today, we face a challenging energy market and the need to better inform the public of the significant value and return on investment that nuclear power brings to our environment and local communities. To increase that return on investment, we need to work together as a team to modernize, update and continue to operate our nuclear power plants in the U.S. and around the globe with the latest technology and most efficient operations possible.
During my panel presentation, I had the opportunity to share my experience leading several new nuclear power plant designs and implementations with Westinghouse, and demonstrating the great advances we have made in the Gen III+ power plants. These advances can and have been applied to our operating power plants to increase their efficiency, reduce their maintenance costs and streamline their operations – including digital safety systems; automatic technical specification surveillances; computerized procedures; automatic multi-element controls systems; and advanced operator human performance tools. Based upon the dialogue and active audience participation, I can see a bright and exciting future as we bring these technologies into our operating plant fleet.
I also had the opportunity to explore several other conference sessions and activities. I attended the opening plenary, which featured Westinghouse’s President of Americas Operating Plant Services, David Howell, and enjoyed his great presentation highlighting the past, present and future of Westinghouse and our leadership in the nuclear industry. I also appreciated David’s challenge to the industry regarding improving our focus on promoting nuclear and working across the different energy providers to ensure the U.S. has a unified and diversified energy plan to support future generations.
While these experiences are great networking and professional growth opportunities, they also introduce attendees to innovations and new standards in our industry – which ensures that we’re able to continue to deliver our value and Passion for Serving Customers Globally.
Director, I&C Safety, Reactor & Advanced Training
Westinghouse Electric Company