Program nurtures next-generation nuclear scientists
11/03/2007
Ruth Campbell
Midland Reporter-Telegram
mywesttexas.com
ODESSA -- Sterling Satterfield of Greenwood is one of seven students chosen to be part of a University of Texas of the Permian Basin program that will get them in on the ground floor of the next generation in nuclear power.
Satterfield, C.J. Hernandez of Andrews and Abelardo "Abel" Tarango of Odessa are interns and Wendell "Duggar" Faulkner of Odessa, Ian Lindblom of Canton, Daniel Molinar and Brandon Pepper, both of Odessa, are scholarship students.
UTPB received $195,000 in grants from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to form and support the Nuclear Energy Education project. The program provides scholarships and internships, plus a mentor to ensure students' academic success.
The university, General Atomics of San Diego, Calif., Thorium Power and other partners are working on a proposed high-temperature teaching and test reactor to be located in Andrews County.
The programs are geared to develop new employees, primarily for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The students have a year's obligation to work at the NRC for every year of education paid for the agency, high temperature test and teaching reactor (HT3R) Program Manager Jim Wright said.
After meeting Wright and UTPB physics professor Steve Nelson last year, they told Satterfield about the internship, which he thought was a great opportunity.
"We get to do graduate style work as undergrads. There are a lot of things that even if we went to a bigger school, we wouldn't be able to get," 18-year-old Satterfield said.
Hernandez, 20, heard about the internship from a math professor, who took him to meet Nelson and Wright. "I like it. I've already learned a ton about anything nuclear," he said.
Molinar, 19, was planning to get his basics at UTPB and move on to Texas Tech University for engineering. Once he found out about the reactor being designed, he was hooked.
"It's great to be part of something new," said Molinar, a Permian High School graduate.
Other students alos were pleased to find out about the program.
"I thought I could make opportunities happen, but I figured I'd have to go somewhere else. This is the best thing that could have happened for me," said Hernandez, who was accepted at UT Dallas.
"This concept hasn't been around," Satterfield said. "This is the beginning of it. It's a great chance where ... a door opens and you slide right into it and pick up and run with it. It's a very bright window to see through."
Echoing his peers' sentiments, Satterfield noted that it's good to have knowledgeable people like Wright and Nelson around.
"They're pretty open," Satterfield said. "They help us on everything. It's pretty good because we can't always go see our professors when we have a problem with something, but Jim and Dr. Nelson are pretty much the most educated people we know.
"It's a great chance to come up here and get help on everything then to talk about general things that we have been going over in our minds. It's a pretty great opportunity to take advantage of," Satterfield said.
"They're good students," Wright said. "Expectations are high for them. They were selected because they are capable. We're pleased that they're here.
"We believe we have things to offer students so they don't have to go away to other universities," Wright said.
Several field trips are also possible to see an older reactor at UT Austin's Pickle Campus, McDonald Observatory in Alpine, or the National Enrichment Facility, a uranium enrichment facility being constructed in Lea County, just across the state line from Andrews, Wright said.
The proposed reactor in Andrews County would be a 25-megawatt, "Generation IV" reactor, using the latest technology, he said.
Next year, the NRC plans to add seven more students to the program, and ultimately UTPB hopes to have 30, Wright said. "The NRC is making a large investment in UTPB," he added.
The NRC alone is hiring 400 people a year. "It's just extremely difficult to find these people," he said.
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