NPRE Aids in Planning Nuclear Energy Conference in Jordan

3/2/2010 Nitin Lakshman Rao

Written by Nitin Lakshman Rao

NPRE Aids in Planning Nuclear Energy Conference in Jordan

NPRE faculty members are helping to plan the first International Nuclear & Renewable Energy Conference (INREC ’10) in Jordan as that country’s scientists and government officials move to establish nuclear power there and possibly in other Middle Eastern countries.

 

Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST)
Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST)

Papers from 27 countries have been submitted to INREC ’10, to be held March 21 to March 24 in Amman, Jordan. The conference will have a major effect on the Middle East’s energy policy and future interactions with the U.S., predicts Jim Stubbins, NPRE Department Head and INREC ’10 General Chair.

 

“Jordan plays a central role in technology development in the region,” Stubbins said. “Jordanian scientists are at the forefront of developing nuclear power educational programs to support the near term development of a nuclear power station in their country. The U.S. State Department supports this effort. Other countries in the Middle East are also moving in this direction. We feel that INREC'10 will play a major role in defining future directions for this critical region of the world.”

Unlike many of its neighboring countries, Jordan is not rich in oil resources. Jordan is interested in nuclear power to meet its energy needs, and recently hired a South Korean firm to begin the design and construction of a research reactor at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST).

The country’s leaders realize Jordan will need nuclear engineering education to operate and regulate this new power source. Recently, Jordan has been sending graduate students to the University of Illinois and other U.S. universities for higher education.

Meanwhile, JUST began accepting students for its own nuclear engineering degree program in 2008, and the first degrees should be awarded in 2011. NPRE Profs. Rizwan Uddin and Magdi Ragheb traveled to Jordan in March 2007 to make recommendations on curriculum, and a contingent of JUST officials came to Illinois a year ago to tour facilities and talk with faculty members.

INREC ’10 is the next step in this continuing effort.

Stubbins, Uddin and Ragheb, along with several NPRE graduate students, will be presenting papers at the conference. Prof. Mohammed Khasawneh, who recently spent a two-year sabbatical at Illinois, has been instrumental in organizing the conference on behalf of JUST.

Keynote speakers include
• Hussein Khalil, Argonne National Laboratory’s Nuclear Engineering Division Director;
• Peter B. Lyons, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy;
• Broder J. Merkel, Professor of Geology at Technische Universität Bergakademie, Freiberg, Germany;
• Noam Lior, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania;
• Myung Seung Yang, President of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute;
• Peter W. Sauer, Grainger Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;
• Hector E. Otheguy, General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of INVAP S.E. (research reactor vendor), President of the Latin American Section of the American Nuclear Society, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Black River Technology Inc., INVAP’s U.S. subsidiary.

Topics to be covered at the conference include:
• Education and training;
• Enabling technologies for nuclear applications;
• Nuclear physics;
• Nuclear power in developing countries;
• Nuclear radiation and shielding;
• Nuclear reactor technology;
• Policy studies and issues
• Renewable energy;
• Sustainable energy;
• Water, hydrogen and energy storage.

For more information, visit the conference website at http://inrec10.inrec-conf.org/default.aspx


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This story was published March 2, 2010.