NucNet – What will be the highlights of the congress from a technical perspective?

Shwageraus: The technical programme will be busy, intense and versatile. There will be a good range of activities, starting with plenary sessions and workshops to discuss various nuclear technology issues. The largest part of the technical programme will be presentations. We will have two technical tours to the iThemba radiation science laboratory and Koeberg nuclear power plant. The 10 tracks, which are traditional engineering disciplines, leave enough room for every participant to discuss their projects among peers. As opposed to previous years when we had just four or five tracks, we now cover a broader range of disciplines to make sure the quality of the technical programme is at the highest possible level.

Track 1: Plant Construction, Operation and Maintenance

Track 2: Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Track3: Nuclear Policies, Economics and Human resources

Track 4: Nuclear Materials, Chemistry and Structural Integrity

Track 5: Radiation Science and Medical Applications

Track 6: Fusion Science and Technology

Track 7: Reactor Safety

Track 8: Thermal-Hydraulics

Track 9: Reactor Core Design, Simulation and Modelling

Track 10: Young Generation Activities

NucNet – Which tracks will create the most interest?

Shwageraus: One of the biggest fears was that some of them would be under-represented. This was not the case and we have a fairly well-balanced programme. An almost equal amount of papers has been submitted for almost every track, although plant operation, maintenance and construction proved to be busier than the others. From a research perspective, nuclear materials is the area that creates the most interest since it is directly related to major topics such as life extensions, improved performance and power uprates. But also for the next generation of reactors, structural materials are the biggest challenge. I expect a lot of interest in the economics, policy and non-proliferation track.

NucNet – What is IYNC’s objective for the congress?

Shwageraus: Our first goal is to maintain the highest possible quality of the technical programme and ensure that the papers will be up to the highest standard. We invested a lot of time and effort in building up a team for the technical programme committee and in reviewing papers. Good feedback is vital. Since the core objective of IYNC is to improve communication and share ideas among young professionals, and because some young professionals who submit these papers do so for the first time, they will need guidance on how to improve the presentation of their ideas and innovations.

There has been a steady improvement in the standard of entries and I am pleased with the quality. I view it as the most important IYNC goal because sharing ideas and learning from each other will help not only the individuals who take part but the industry as a whole. If the industry functions more efficiently, this will benefit society in general, not just individuals or their employers.

NucNet – With respect to important topics such as aging and lifetime management, new build and generation IV, what can we expect during the congress?

Shwageraus: Aging and lifetime management will be represented in the construction and power plant operation and maintenance track. Generation IV topics are not in a separate track, but appear in different disciplines, such as reactor modelling, materials and safety. On nuclear new build, we plan to have a panel discussion focusing specifically on new countries that intend to establish nuclear power programmes. Right now 30 or more different countries have declared their intention to do that. As we know a handful of those have really serious intentions of starting their programmes. The whole world will be looking on, so the value of their success will be enormous and because these countries are essentially starting from scratch, there are many open questions for us to deal with. What will be the optimal role of government involvement? What will happen with respect to interaction with the international community in terms of policy and safeguards? How to organise the supply chains and regulatory regimes?

NucNet – Will speakers from new nuclear countries be attending?

Shwageraus: Yes, we invited several. I think it is vital for the speakers to interact with the young professionals who attend IYNC. These are young people sent by their companies, institutes, universities and governments so they are high-value professionals who in a few years will become the decisionmakers. The nuclear industry is global in nature and with an international conference such as this, new nuclear countries and international companies will benefit from the networks developed.

NucNet – Is this the first time fusion science and technology is to occupy a stand-alone position in the technical programme?

Shwageraus: This is the first time we have placed it in a separate track. Traditionally, fusion technology was under-represented at IYNC and the papers were scattered between disciplines. I think there is more of an overlap between fission technologies and fusion technologies than people realise. It’s important that these two communities interact. If you set aside pure plasma physics, many engineering challenges are common, such as high temperature materials behaviour under irradiation and various nuclear diagnostic techniques. If fusion eventually proves to be a workable energy source we will still have to harness this energy somehow, so all the engineering of power conversion and power plant engineering should also be solved. All these topics can be equally attributed to fission and fusion engineering. Some people even advocate that fission-fusion hybrid reactors are the way to go.

NucNet – You have a good deal of experience in transmutation research and enhanced proliferation resistance. Will these subjects feature?

Shwageraus: These are hot topics and remain a high priority on my research agenda. They will most definitely be represented during IYNC 2010. There are a few papers in both of these fields and it is a really important topic. From a general perspective, the first question is whether we treat spent nuclear fuel as waste or as a resource. Proliferation resistance can be attributed to the policy side, but needs technical support to help the policy-makers make intelligent decisions on those issues. We should also be discussing how to design effective safeguards for future fuel cycles. These topics are open to debate.

NucNet – What should be done to attract young professionals to the industry that has perhaps not been done already?

Shwageraus: This is a process that should evolve naturally. There are three issues in this respect. The first is that young people want to work on something exciting. They want to make a difference. You have to provide an incentive for young people and to make sure what they are doing is of tremendous importance. Secondly, scientists and engineers like to solve problems. They enjoy the process of doing so and if this is exciting enough and has enough technical challenges then people will come. Finally, you have to make a living from what you are doing, and I think nuclear technology satisfies those three preconditions. Young professionals are being pursued aggressively by companies and challenging and exciting work opportunities are out there. The media plays an important role in this respect, in terms of educating the public on nuclear and providing young people with the information to make informed decisions and choose nuclear as their career path.

Background:

*Mr Shwageraus is a senior lecturer at the department of nuclear engineering at Ben-Gurion University in Israel and visiting associate professor at the department of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

The International Youth Nuclear Congress 2010 will be held from 12-18 July in Cape Town, South Africa in co-operation with the IAEA, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the European Nuclear Society.

IYNC Website

IYNC on Wikipedia

South African Department of Minerals and Energy, IYNC Announcement