Status of nuclear power in the free world Geert de Vries May 2, 2021 The statement “The free world from Japan to Argentina, India to France and Canada has some of the finest scientists and engineers in nuclear energy” sounds good but as they say in German “Das war einmal” ! They are losing that expertise. They still have reactor operators and related personnel. I am worried that one day we will have insufficient Reactor Operators to man the shifts. But the generation with nuclear expertise in South Africa that came together in the half century after 1948, and that did all of the following: - build chemical processes and plant to make U3O8 from the gold mines’ tailings in the 50s - built a 14MeV cyclotron in the 50s, - did serious international level applied and basic research from 1964-1990, - spawned radiation-savvy personnel for all major hospitals - built several small zero-power and prototype reactors in the 60s and 70s - operated a Van De Graaf machine and did tokamak research in the 60 and 70s - built UF6 plant and enrichment plant and then built a PWR Fuel manufacturing plant - reached the 8000 level of staff involved in nuclear business in the 80s - converted a research reactor to become the world’s foremost producer of Mo99, the medical tracer isotope in the 90s - staffed respected nuclear regulators to oversee it all [this is not an audited list, just what comes to mind],
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