TITANS OF NUCLEAR

At this time we are still producing show notes for this episode. Please check back again at a future date.

1 - 00:40

Q: How did you get into nuclear energy?

A: Howard Shearer, currently the CEO of Hitachi Canada, is originally from Jamaica and was first exposed to nuclear energy on a school trip to McMaster University, which has an on-campus nuclear reactor. Shearer eventually decided to attend McMaster University and first got into electrical engineering. Shearer then transitioned into the component sector, first working for Erie in Pennsylvania, in the high voltage power supply industry, and then Texas Instruments in the semiconductor industry. After that, Howard Shearer moved on to the sales department at Hitachi, working his way up through management across all sectors of the business. Hitachi has a strong presence in the nuclear industry, developing its own nuclear technology and supporting the implementation of others.

2 - 06:30

Q: How has Hitachi been able to be successful across so many industry sectors in so many countries?

A: Howard Shearer credits the success of the company to the fundamental core within Hitachi, which is the culture and value system, Harmony, Sincerity, and Pioneering Spirit. Diversity in technology and expertise improves the company’s ability to provide solutions to clients across the globe. Today’s customers require have problems that need input from different sectors brought together to leverage a solution. Corporate responsibility and the ability to impact the next generation is on the forefront of Hitachi’s radar.

3 - 12:22

Q: What is Hitachi looking for in the next generation of nuclear energy?

A: Howard Shearer recognizes that in order to reach the goals for reduction of greenhouse gases, nuclear power is necessary. Hitachi is part of the supply chain that makes nuclear energy possible. Technical possibilities in the future could include food production, desalination, and electrification, which could have crucial impacts in developing countries. There are also medical applications for nuclear technology. Shearer is a strong proponent of increasing the information shared with the public, to improve the perceptions of the social, economic, environmental impacts of nuclear energy. There is space for renewable energy in the overall goal of decreasing greenhouse gas emission, and the combination of renewable energy and nuclear can be successful.

4 - 19:06

Q: How can the nuclear industry promote its environmental benefits?

A: Howard Shearer anticipates nuclear contributing to many different sectors to benefit society, especially as global population increases and the potential for the future generation’s standard of living. Safe, reliable, and environmentally sound designs are vital to the success of reactor deployment, and must be complete before deployment. Deployment also requires economical design and planned funding. Shearer expects the next nuclear renaissance to be centered around small modular reactors (SMR’s).

5 - 24:56

Q: Does your organization have the ability to scout upcoming technologies, with the opportunity to invest, acquire, or inject it with capital?

A: Howard Shearer recognizes that the long-term success of a company requires growth, but Hitachi, which consists of approximately 985 companies under different sectors, does not have the time to scale organically internally and often grows instead in acquisitions, collaborations, and investments. Business culture must grow and adapt as well. Compliance and technology must also work hand-in-hand to fulfill the client’s needs, especially as it relates to secure data. There is a constant security challenge surrounding utilities and the benefits and risks of utility monitoring. The nuclear industry has been a leader in building secure infrastructure.

6 - 30:43

Q: What leads you to get involved with boards outside of Hitachi and how do you keep up with so many commitments?

A: Howard Shearer is on the board for the Canadian Nuclear Laboratory and the Canadian Nurses Foundation. Research and development is vital to the success of nuclear energy and medical radioisotopes. Shearer values participation in organizations that increase the quality of life in our society. This participation also provides Shearer an opportunity to interact with people in different sectors and hear their viewpoint, which provides lessons learned for him as an individual and as a business executive.

7 - 34:23

Q: What will happen to the nuclear sector in the next couple decades?

A: Howard Shearer believes that a scientific approach combined with a political and social approach will solve most of the current problems in the nuclear industry. Shearer enjoys teaching the next generation about nuclear energy and looks forward to the contributions of future technologies.

1 - 01:08

Q: What is the North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN)?

A: Matthew Mairinger is the Canadian Affairs Chair for the North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN). NAYGN focuses on empowering and providing a forum for the new leaders in the nuclear industry, through professional development, community relations, outreach, and networking. Matthew Mairinger became interested in nuclear power during a research project in high school and pursued nuclear engineering at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. NAYGN sets up site visits to expose members to different steps of the nuclear process, such as mining and pellet manufacturing. One benefit of nuclear power in Canada is that the uranium dioxide pellets do not need to be enriched.

2 - 11:11

Q: When did you start to take on leadership roles?

A: Matthew Mairinger first became involved in the North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN) as a member, then became a chapter vice-president and now serves as the Canadian Affairs Chair for the continental group. NAYGN has 120 chapters, 11 in Canada, which reached out to over 120,000 members of the public, showing the continental impact of the group as a whole. The International Youth Nuclear Congress is a global entity that ties youth groups across the globe together. The NAYGN has a nine-member board of directors which runs the operation of NAYGN. As Canadian Affairs Chair, Matthew Mairinger is responsible for sharing information from the board to the regions and chapters, such as initiatives and strategic direction for the group.

3 - 16:02

Q: What are some efforts that NAYGN has kicked off?

A: Matthew Mairinger and the board of NAYGN track and monitor different programs and initiatives within chapters. The NAYGN chapter at Duke University developed a children’s book, Marie’s Electric Adventure, to reach out to elementary school students about energy. NAYGN group has a teacher workshop that teaches teachers about nuclear energy and also sponsors a high school essay competition. Mairinger sees challenges with trying to change the public’s mind after they have associated emotions with nuclear energy as adults, and sees the benefit of educating youth about nuclear energy before that happens is vital to success of the industry. Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy (NICE) Future aims to get nuclear involved in clean energy conversations, such as at the Clean Energy Ministerial and bridge the gap between energy industries.

4 - 24:27

Q: How do we get past the competitiveness of energy industries?

A: Matthew Mairinger aims to advocate for clean energy as a whole and to re-focus on the overall goal of clean energy, instead of promoting one source of clean energy due to personal or financial interest. The Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council advocates for nuclear from the isotope perspective, such as those that are used in medical applications. Other nuclear applications include district heating, small modular reactors (SMR’s), and NASA. NAYGN promotes distribution of knowledge through non-confrontational means, such as at outreach events or in everyday conversation with people who might not know anything about nuclear power. Matthew Mairinger works full-time as Senior Advisor in Stakeholder Relations for Ontario Power Generation at the Pickering Nuclear Power Plant and volunteers with NAYGN in his spare time.

5 - 32:20

Q: How does the nuclear industry change people’s mind?

A: Matthew Mairinger promotes practicing active listening with opponents of nuclear energy in order to start the conversation and get the root of their concerns and fears. This allows questions and answers instead of debate. Mairinger sees a big shift in the industry toward small modular reactors (SMR’s), which may allow a shift in perception from the public. Confidence can also be built by refurbishing the reactors that already exist on time and on budget. As the electric load shifts, baseload requirements are growing and it needs to be considered by both federal governments and communities.

6 - 39:02

Q: What does the future of Canadian nuclear look like?

A: Matthew Mairinger predicts that the Canadian regulator, CNSC is less rigid that the United States’ NRC, and more willing to collaborate. Canadian federal government is also getting on board with the benefits of the industry. Canada also has wide open space, which is great for land usage, but also an opportunity to deploy small modular reactors (SMR’s) to smaller, more rural communities.

At this time we are still producing show notes for this episode. Please check back again at a future date.

At this time we are still producing show notes for this episode. Please check back again at a future date.

At this time we are still producing show notes for this episode. Please check back again at a future date.

At this time we are still producing show notes for this episode. Please check back again at a future date.

Q1: What was your path into the field of physics?

A1: Alec Thomas received his PhD in Physics at the Imperial College London. He originally became interested in physics, specifically fusion, with the desire to help mankind through clean sources of energy, and transitioned into the study of radiation sources driven by lasers. Thomas appreciated the challenging problems of physics and was interested in the workings of nature at a fundamental level.

Q2: Were you thinking about the model of an atom during your early days in physics?

A2: Alec Thomas is interested in the complexity of nuclear engineering due to the considerations of quantum mechanics and having to make sense of the bizarre behavior of matter at the fundamental level. Modeling an atom is a complex process. There are known equations describing the quarks and gluons which stick together to form a nucleus, but the equations are very challenging to solve. Thomas’ PhD thesis focused on laser plasma accelerators. A plasma is a state of matter resulting from ionizing material sufficiently that the electrons become separated from the ions. The behavior of the matter is dominated by electric effects. Plasma temperature is measured in eV, electronvolts. Lasers have a field strength strong enough to accelerate the particles, which then reach equilibrium and have a thermodynamic temperature. A strong enough laser field will rip the electrons from their atoms, move them around, resulting in matter with extremely high temperatures. The electrons don’t escape completely, but are flying around the ions.

Q3: Why do we care about plasma?

A3: Alec Thomas cares about plasma due to the oscillations of plasma, which can be harnessed into energy. One of the most fundamental behaviors of plasma is wave oscillations. When electrons are pulled away from ions, a force will pull electrons back to the ions, but overshoot the target and end up oscillating. The laser creates a perturbation which causes a strong electric field and creates an oscillation that travels behind the laser, similar to a wake. Charged particles “surf” on this electric wave and obtain very high energy. Plasma accelerators can be smaller in size than high energy physics accelerators, allowing the technology to be more commercially viable. One possible use for this technology could be identifying and diagnosing porosity and cracking in 3D printed material in situ.

Q4: How was titanium doped sapphire discovered?

A4: Alec Thomas appreciates the scientific process because things can be discovered that are not necessarily practical, such as the titanium doped sapphire. In the early days of laser technology, lots of discoveries were made by trial and error. Titanium doped sapphire gives a very short laser, but the field strength comings from having a lot of photons. In 1985, Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland came up with a technique to split all the colors in the pulse up using an arrangement of gratings so the colors go different paths and stretch out in time. The pulse can be sent through crystals, amplify it to very high powers, and use an arrangement of gratings that reverses the process to combine all the colors again in a very short pulse. Mourou and Strickland received the Nobel Prize for this invention. Mourou then set up the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science at the University of Michigan, where Alec Thomas now works. These lasers can accelerate ions, which could be used for types of medical therapy, or to produce neutrons through fusion. Since the lasers are very small and the timescales are so short, temporal and spatial scales that can be resolved with this technology that can’t be achieved with conventional processes.

Q5: What do you see as the biggest impact for this technology in the next 10-20 years?

A5: In the future, Alec Thomas predicts laser plasma technology could have the most impact in the x-ray field. The laser technology needs to progress more before this is achieved, due to the complexity of the lasers. Alec Thomas envisions portable x-ray sources for high resolution imaging and 3D reconstruction of objects available at one thousandth of the cost of a synchrotron facility in the next 20 years.

Top 8 Bullets
- Alec Thomas’ path to plasma physics at the University of Michigan - Challenges of modeling an atom - How laser plasma accelerators create energy - The interactions between charged particles and plasma wave oscillations - Benefits of plasma accelerators compared to high energy physics accelerators - Use of titanium doped sapphire crystals in lasers - Plasma technology for medical applications - Economic advantages of laser plasma accelerators.