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JULY 2011 · Vol 1, Issue 2
News from the NCSU/TISS Energy and Security Initiative |
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Next Issue: Plans for the coming academic year.
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| Welcome to the Energy and Security Initiative | |
The Energy and Security Initiative (ESI), which was launched in January 2010, is a collaborative effort spearheaded by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies and North Carolina State University. The goal is to cross disciplinary divides so as to better understand the complex links between energy and security. Anchored in a program on nuclear security and non-proliferation, ESI plans to broaden the discussion to include the whole spectrum of energy, from solar and hydro-power to bio-fuels. Better understanding the energy-security nexus is of critical importance. The energy choices we make will have a profound effect on human, national, and collective security. The strategies pursued by other countries in their search for energy security will help shape the future international order. Our own energy security will, in turn, be contingent upon our ability to work within this environment and deal with changing security threats. We invite you to join us in this challenging task.
The Grid is ESI's electronic newsletter. It is issued every few months. Its purpose is to keep our members connected, inform them of coming events and relevant research, help students identify opportunities in the field, and report briefly on our activities. We invite you also to consult the TISS web site, where we provide more detailed reports of events.
www.tiss-nc.org
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Member News | |
 | | Dr. Yim |
Man Sung Yim, Nuclear Engineering: As most of you know, Dr. Man-Sung Yim has been one of the key participants in the Energy and Security Initiative. He is deeply committed to the effort to bring together social scientists and engineers in the study of nuclear security, safeguards, and non-proliferation. It is with very mixed emotions, therefore, that we must inform you that he has accepted a position in Korea beginning this summer. Dr. Yim will be the chair of the Nuclear Engineering department at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology) as well as a full professor. We are happy for him - this is a great opportunity for him and a great honor. At the same time, we will miss his energy, his dedication, and his leadership. All the best, Dr. Yim!
John Mattingly, Nuclear Engineering: At the same time, we are delighted to welcome Dr. John Mattingly who has joined us as a new faculty member on the NCSU campus. His research specialization is in radiation detection for nuclear security applications. At State he is developing a program of education and research devoted to advancing the science and technology applied to national and international nuclear security missions, including nuclear counterterrorism and nonproliferation. He has worked at two US National Laboratories (Sandia and Oak Ridge) for 15 years developing techniques to analyze radiation measurements for nuclear
material controls and accountability, international safeguards, nuclear nonproliferation, and counterterrorism.
 | | Dr. Skutnik |
Steve Skutnik, Nuclear Engineering: More good news to
share: Steve, the founder and chapter president of the Triangle-Area Universities Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) student chapter, passed his exams and now is officially Dr. Skutnik. We all know how hard he has worked and how much we owe him for our successes this past year. Congratulations, Steve!
Brent Beatty, Nuclear Engineering: Brent, also an active member in our group, was selected into the 2011 class of Nonproliferation Fellows with the NNSA. His research focuses on the identification of proliferation and safeguard vulnerablilities at the facility level.
 | | Brent explaining his research to Clark |
Clark Letterman, (MIS): Clark, who played an invaluable role helping run the ESI program this past year, has earned his Master of International Studies from NCSU. He is currently working for a company called Strategic Social that works on media, research, and technology in challenging environments including Iraq and Afghanistan.
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| ACC: Spent Fuel Project | |
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Professor Boettcher and (from left to right) Jacob Presson, Nathan Blanton, and Ryan McDermott. Photo by York Wilson |
This year, a group of undergraduates studying political science, history, philosophy, and nuclear engineering at North Carolina State University collaborated in a research project funded by the Atlantic Coast Conference. As a byproduct of the continuing use of nuclear power, industry and government alike are struggling with what to do with the radioactive waste that comes out of nuclear power plants. Our team spent a year researching various aspects of the spent nuclear fuel cycle and its ongoing influence on policymakers.
After examining the various alternatives from the security, economic, and environmental standpoints, we detailed the existing policy and opportunities for international coordination of the nuclear fuel cycle. In the end, we concluded that dry cask storage was the best short-term solution but that a geological repository presented the only viable solution in the long term. Part of this research process involved going to Washington DC to visit with government and policy experts. We visited the CIA and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for information on their proliferation prevention efforts. We also visited the Center for Strategic International Studies and spoke with Alan Hegburg and Jane Nakano on the changing dynamics of nuclear energy and the spent fuel cycle.
At the end of the year, we presented our research at a conference held in the Talley Center in Raleigh on April 14th. The event also featured presentations by Man-Sung Yim's nuclear engineering students and Lenka Kollar from the NNSA. A few days later, our team went to Miami for the ACC's Meeting of the Minds undergraduate research conference. There we presented our research and took questions, receiving useful feedback that was integrated into the final version of the paper. The project was supervised by Professor William Boettcher from the NCSU Political Science department.
http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/boettcher/gtrp%20conference.html
By Jacob Presson, Political Science/Philosophy, 2012 |
| Spring Nuclear- Luncheons |
Friday, January 21st, Sean Giovanello, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Elon University, "Challenges and Obstacles to Nuclear Arms Control in the United States."
Dr. Giovanello discussed the domestic political hurdles that nuclear arms control measures face in the United States, especially the necessity of Senate ratification of nuclear treaties such as New START and the potential Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Friday, February 11th, Henry Petroksi, Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and Professor of History, Duke University, "Failure Analysis and Engineering."
Dr. Petroski spoke to a packed house. Students and professors from engineering, political science and many other departments listened intently as Dr. Petroski explained how design, management, and understanding historical lessons all play an important part in preventing catastrophic failures.
Wednesday, April 13th, Patrick Cottrell, Political Science, University of Wisconsin
April 13, Countdown to Zero: The Dialectic
Dr. Cottrell held an informal and wide-ranging discussion with nuclear engineering and political science students and faculty focusing on the paradox of reducing greenhouse emissions and the world's nuclear arsenals at the same time. According to Dr. Cottrell "decoupling" nuclear power from nuclear weapons is the only way to escape this paradox.
By Matthew Clark Letterman, MIS, 2011
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| Energy and Security Nexus - March conference | |
 | | Anne Korin at the mike |
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On March 3-4, 2011, the Triangle Institute for Security Studies, North Carolina State University, and the Strategic Studies Institute held a colloquium at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh. The event received additional financial support from the Research Triangle Energy Consortium, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory - North Carolina State University Collaborative Research Program, and Duke University's Program in American Grand Strategy. The colloquium, entitled "The Energy and Security Nexus: A Strategic Dilemma," was attended by 128 persons from federal and state government, academia, think-tanks, and a wide variety of local organizations and businesses working on energy issues. The goal of this conference was to explore the connections between energy and security (human, national, and collective) and consider how best to resolve strategic dilemmas.
After an opening keynote address, intended to stimulate thought about the relationships among energy and security, attention turned first to fossil fuels and their implications for security and then to different kind of alternative fuels, ranging from nuclear, and water, through biofuels, solar-fuels and others. The penultimate panel focused on the ways in which the international security environment shapes and will shape our energy security. To end the meeting, solutions were solicited from the audience by Vikram Rao, Research Triangle Energy Consortium. The conference provided useful technical information for those who worked in national security strategy and national security policy and gave a good foundation for understanding many energy issues, especially energy security. It also made very clear the multidimensional characteristics of the issues, the absence of zero-cost solutions, and the need for future research exploring some of these dilemmas.
A short report of the conference is available online: Conference Brief.
The full length proceedings will be published later in the year.
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Vikram Rao in conversation |
 | | Steven Miller |
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Among other things, the conference featured an exhibition by graduate and undergraduate students in the NCSU Engineering School. Participants who presented posters were:
Jennifer Felder and Joel Anderson, Electrical Engineering undergraduates, "A Visualization Interface Design for Wide-- Area Monitoring of Electric Power Systems."
Avik Juneja, Santosh Ramachandran, and Rohit Mohan, Computer Engineering (MS-CPE) graduate students, "Integrating ARM-SST Protocol Support into Simulink-based SST Controller Code."
Xiang Lu and Zhuo Lu Computer and Electrical Engineering graduate students, "Network Security in the Smart Grid."
Steven Skutnik, Nuclear Engineering graduate student, "Proliferation resistance in nuclear fuel cycle facilities."
Application of Probabilistic Risk Assessment for proliferation vulnerability identification."
Ryne Hevener, Nuclear Engineering Graduate Student., "Detection ability of radiation portal monitors."
Brent Beatty, Nuclear Engineering graduate student,"Probabilistic Risk Assessment for proliferation vulnerability identification.
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Xiang and Zhuo |
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Jennifer and Joel |
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Poster Session |
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| INMM - Triangle Chapter | |
This past Spring has marked the second year since the formation of the Triangle Area Student Chapter of INMM, and has proven to be one of the most eventful times since the chapters inception. We have hosted a number of speakers including William Charlton of Texas A&M University, Chris Pickett from Oak Ridge National Labs, and Steve Mladineo from Pacific Northwest National Labs, among others. This year marks the largest representation of our chapter at the INMM national meeting with six student research papers covering both technical and policy issues. Similarly, we have begun to accelerate our outreach projects with our members participating in student-organized panel discussions regarding the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant incident as well as publishing a blog following the incident attempting to educate and inform the general public on trending topics relevant to nuclear materials management in an
understandable fashion, which can be found at http://neutroneconomy.blogspot.com/
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The Triangle Area Student Chapter of INMM is a student organization dedicated to the research and understanding of both the technical and policy aspects of nuclear materials management.
By Josh Earp, INMM, class of 2012
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| Class Trip to Oak Ridge |
Class Trip to Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The spring break trip to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as part of Dr. Yim's nuclear nonproliferation and safeguards course, combined lessons in export controls, portal monitoring, hold-up measurements, and IAEA inspection guidelines. Oak Ridge designed a course that was both technically oriented (explaining the design of radiation detectors, including, the Hybrid K-Edge, high-purity germanium detectors, and sodium iodide detectors) and policy conscious. Activities included visiting the crystal growth facility for the germanium detectors, as well as a spallation neutron source facility. The courses at Oak Ridge were very impressive and will hopefully benefit in the future from the introduction of a module on nuclear forensics or physical security systems. That being said, many of the instructors were obviously cautious about revealing too much information about the security measures that the U.S. uses to safeguard nuclear material. One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to a Mobile Uranium Facility ("MUF")-the inflatable, transportable forensic base camp used in the Iraq war to inventory and process the country's yellowcake stockpile.
By Michael "Wyatt" Williams, International Relations, 2013 |
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  Carolyn Pumphrey, Ph.D. NCSU/TISS Energy and Security Initiative ESI is a cooperative effort between NCSU and TISS. Its offices are located at TISS headquarters NCSU/TISS energy and Security Initiative (ELI)
132 Rubenstein Hall, 302 Towerview Drive, Duke University
Durham, NC 27708-0316 Phone: 919-613-9280 FAX: 919-684-9940
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