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March 7, 2023

Graduate student gains international perspective on nuclear engineering

Written By: Samantha Vold

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Ryan Dailey, a graduate student in the Reactor Technology Integration Group led by Assistant Professor Ben Lindley, attended the 2023 Nuclear Innovator Cultivation Camp (NICC) hosted by Tokyo Tech and funded through Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. NICC aims to cultivate and foster those who will be successful in international collaborations and in leading innovations in nuclear technology. Over the ten days of the camp, participants attended seminars, collaborated on group projects, and visited the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini Nuclear Power Plants.

One of the most interesting components of the camp for Dailey was the perception of nuclear technology in Japan compared to that in the United States. Dailey says, “I’ve attended American Nuclear Society conferences before and it’s usually all about the cutting-edge technology developed at the national laboratories or ‘what are the new reactor startups doing?’” The focus of these conferences is on the newest nuclear technologies and how to push them forward. In contrast, the International Zero Carbon Energy Symposium (IZES) in Japan had a major focus on how to de-carbonize the energy grid and make more efficient use of the resources available. A large difference Dailey noted is there is more of a focus on reprocessing fuel of spent nuclear fuel in Japan than there is in the United States, where conversations focus on High-Assay Low Enriched Uranium or other aspects of our once-through fuel cycle.

Group photo of NICC participants at J-Village, where they stayed during their visit to the Fukushima prefecture.

The camp consisted of eight days in Tokyo and two days in the Fukushima prefecture, home to the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants. The group stayed in the J-Village, a training ground for the Japanese national soccer team, that was converted to a disaster response headquarters following the earthquake, tsunami, and eventual nuclear accident. For Dailey, staying in the Fukushima prefecture was a fascinating, but surreal experience. Following the tsunami, most of the buildings in the low-lying areas were destroyed and the effects of this can still be seen today. As the area continues to recover, the infrastructure consists of new buildings or concrete foundations for future buildings; nothing old remains in the low-ground.

“It was weird being there and seeing this event that has progressed in my lifetime, from when I watched the reactor buildings detonate on live TV to now, where I can stand 100 meters from them, and the radiation dose is acceptable for short visits,” Dailey says.

Group photo of NICC participants overlooking Fukushima Daiichi, about 100 m from the containment buildings

The group was able to get within about 100 meters (~110 yards) of the reactor buildings that had failed and had the opportunity to tour the inner site of the facility on a bus. Dailey says there is black tape marking the height where the tsunami hit, about halfway up the turbine buildings. But touring the site shows a testament to how pragmatic people were about the situation, both at Daini and Daiichi. “[They have] this very sturdy mentality of ‘This is a mess, and we have to fix it. They can’t just sit there.’”

The goal is to have people back in the area. The exclusion zone is now about one-tenth of its original size. In the town closest to Daiichi, only 20% remains uninhabitable – the majority of the townspeople have been able to move back in. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, who manages both plants, is actively working to repair trust within the community and help them rebuild. “It was a really cool experience to stand on a small cliff about 100 meters away and witness the aftermath of a major accident in commercial nuclear power and see that it’s definitely not a great thing, but it’s much more managed than most people would think.”

“I want to see it again in ten years to see how far they’ve come; how far they’ve gotten. Eventually, you’re barely going to know it was there,” Dailey says.

To wrap up the camp, the group completed two project sessions on two themes: Innovative nuclear systems to guide the future of the energy transition, and nuclear safety. Taking the lessons learned during the camp and their previous knowledge, the first presentations focused on the necessary nuclear development to realize a carbon-neutral society. A second set of presentations focused on the development of nuclear energy systems that can safely withstand a natural disaster. Teams consisted of students from Tokyo Tech as well as students from the United States. “It was interesting to see the myriad of perspectives that came up in that time.”

Ryan Dailey (center) receives a certificate of participation at the end of the NICC.

Outside of the camp, participants had the opportunity to explore Tokyo. Dailey says going from small-town Wisconsin to Madison, WI to Tokyo, a city with 40 million people, truly redefined the idea of a dense city. In conversations about nuclear siting in the United States, it’s often not a question of “Is the space available?” but a question of “Can we convince people to accept a nuclear facility?” Even for small nuclear reactors that could be proposed around Tokyo, the problem begins with, “Is there even space available within 20 miles?” It is quite a paradigm shift  to consider when talking about the deployment of advanced nuclear reactors.

Dailey says, “I’m glad they included the time to go out and explore the area. You wouldn’t get to see this kind of perspective-enhancement if you were just in a classroom all day talking about nuclear. Classrooms and seminars rarely give you the whole picture. I’m glad they gave us time to get the whole picture.”