Fission or Fusion?
October 22, 2008
After a 3 hour consultation period with a very well informed group of stakeholders we have the answer!!
In October a group of 20 teenagers from King Alfred’s College visited the Harwell Science and Innovation Centre. They enjoyed an engaging lecture by Kate Lancaster from the Science and Technology Facilities Council on fusion followed by an interesting talk on fisson by Paul Atyeo, UKAEA. Following the presentations the discerning visitors enjoyed an excellent hands-on practical session with Helen Pearce, UKAEA and Lorna Proctor, Nuvia.
To back up the potential of fisson (possible cheating from UKAEA) the teens then enjoyed a site tour ending with a visit to Dido, a redundant material testing reactor awaiting final stage decommissioning on the Harwell nuclear licensed site. Ed Abel, UKAEA gave a fascinating insight into the world of reactors and the work undertaken at Harwell in the build up of civil nuclear energy.
Mathew Dempsey, Science Teacher, King Alfred’s commented, “the visit and experience will stay with students and staff forever as we can all now say we have stood on a nuclear reactor and know how one works”.
And the answer by a majority vote………………fusion!
For more information please contact: Angela Vincent, Harwell Communications Manager
