"Nuclear Power Education" aims to get more of America's students involved in the nuclear energy field
– By Thomas Cheplick –
A nuclear engineer working at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in Avila Beach, California has setup a website called "Nuclear Power Education" to help America's junior high school students get involved in the nuclear energy field. It is located here.
Walter Reil's website is not associated with any companies and is solely a personal creation. Reil is a veteran of the nuclear power industry with over 30 years of experience.
"I feel that the American [nuclear] industry is not doing anywhere near enough to bring science, engineering and industry to our schools, to help improve the educational process," he said. "We need to be more "in their face", one-on-one, with school students and educators, to explain what the working world is like, what it needs, and what students and schools need to be doing to prepare for the future."
Reil feels that the nuclear power industry has been uniquely "behind the curve" in reaching out to America's students.
"I am joining the growing ranks of thousands of engineers, scientists and educators around the nation who are deeply concerned about the decline in interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education by America's children. I am adding my Internet voice to this concern, combining it with information about the nuclear power industry to help provide guidance to students in determining what kind of jobs they should be considering, jobs that will be some of the highest paying jobs in industry, which is vitally important to our nation," Reil explains.
Reil purposefully designed his website to be very basic. "Nuclear Power Education" is not overloaded with graphics, animations, or pop-up windows. The information is there and presented in a basic way. Educators and students, Reils says, must be able to find what they are looking for quickly and that was the modus operandi upon which "Nuclear Power Education" was built.
The website is maintained from Reil's home on the coast of California. All of the information on the site is free-of-charge.