Atomic Show #308 – Alyssa Hayes, Nuclear Energy Advocate

Alyssa Hayes is a leader in the pro-nuclear movement. She is a PhD candidate in nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee and she has been interested in policy making and politics since interning with her local representative when she was 14 years old. She was involved in the successful efforts to save four nuclear power stations (Clinton, Quad Cities, Byron and Dresden) in Illinois and she was recently named the Generation Atomic Volunteer of the Month. She visited the Atomic Show to share her passion for nuclear energy, her firm understanding of its importance in addressing climate change and providing abundant energy for everyone, and her professional interest in nuclear reactor safeguards technologies and policies that can enable nuclear power proliferation without leading to nuclear weapons proliferation. Alyssa has a strong interest in broadening access to the nuclear industry and to its professional technical organizations. She is active in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committees of the ANS, but the activity that she is most proud of is her role as an organizer for a group called the Computational Research Action Network (CRANE). She is excited about that group’s focus on doing direct work to improve skills and its proactive attitude towards addressing challenges. When someone came up with the idea, instead of creating red tape and having discussions about the best way to do it, we just did it. That thing that we’re doing is teaching computational physics methods to primarily undergraduate but also graduate students from underrepresented backgrounds in computational physics. Alyssa also shared a story about her recent trip to Europe and her tour of a recently closed German nuclear power plant. You’ll enjoy the show. It will improve confidence that the future of nuclear energy is bright and that its promise is attracting energetic, committed, talented individuals who are focused on building a better tomorrow. Please participate in the discussion here. The comment section of Atomic Insights often provides more valuable content than the original blogs.