On Wednesday, 2nd October Dr. John Glanville, a former executive Director of the Major Projects Association, and also previously a managing director of various Nuclear Industry subsidiaries including the Sellafield reprocessing plant, came to speak to the Upper Sixth Physics students. He gave a very interesting and informative lecture on the Nuclear Industry as a whole, ranging from wider Geographical and Political considerations to the nitty gritty of Nuclear Physics reactions at the heart of modern Nuclear Power generation.
Aside from learning that nuclear fuel rods don’t really glow bright green as seen on the opening credits of the Simpsons, and that real reactor cores do not have a handy dial labelled “Danger Zone” which one can adjust before throwing proverbial bad guys in like Dr. No, the U6th got a very useful insight into the industry and to the real-world applications of topics they are currently studying in the classroom.
Whilst several of the students in attendance will be leaving Repton to further their study of Physics, Natural Sciences, Engineering and related disciplines at the end of the year, at present there are no budding nuclear physicists in situ - perhaps the seeds of a prospective future career may have been sown to be investigated further down the line.
Our sincere thanks to Dr. Glanville for giving so generously of his time.
J S Mitchell
Head of Physics
Posted on
Fri, February 4, 2011
by J. S. Mitchell