INL scientist receives award from American Nuclear Society

Dr. Piyush Sabharwall

Piyush Sabharwall, a scientist in the Nuclear System Design and Analysis Division at Idaho National Laboratory, will receive the American Nuclear Society Young Members Excellence Award at the ANS annual meeting later this month. Each year the society gives the award to an early-career nuclear scientist who demonstrates outstanding technical abilities.

Sabharwall's research is in developing new technology for very high temperature nuclear reactors. He also works on ways to integrate nuclear power and renewable sources, like wind energy, into the power grid -- coupling a constant source with one that varies with the weather. Sabharwall's solutions could lead to a cleaner and more energy efficient future for the United States.

In addition to his own research, Sabharwall is a board director on the Idaho NASA Space Grant Consortia. Sabharwall came to INL in 2005.  He received his Ph.D. in 2009 from the University of Idaho, and completed a master's in engineering management this past spring by taking advantage of the U.S. Department of Energy's education program.

Happy's plans opening at new location Friday

The door to Happy Chinese Restaurant at its new Shoup Avenue location, with the Rogers Building reflected in the glass.

Happy Chinese Restaurant has closed on Park Avenue and plans to open Friday at its new location at 504 Shoup Avenue, where Grand Victorian Wedding Chapel was.

Jay and Lily Li came to Idaho Falls from Rexburg in 2003 to take over Happy's on Park Avenue, which originally started in the '80s. When it came time to find a new location that would give them more kitchen space, they didn't want to leave downtown and when the space at Park and B Street became available they put their moving plans in motion.

The new location has about 5,000 square feet, nearly twice what they've had on Park. The space will be about evenly split between the restaurant area (seating 135) and the kitchen, Lily Li said. "We will have better updated equipment for cooking," she said.

By the way, I think it's OK to say "Happy's" even though the name is Happy Chinese Restaurant just the same way it's OK to say "Chesbro's" even when the actual name is Chesbro Music Co.

More national fodder from the ongoing nuclear energy debate

I missed the local screening of "Pandora's Promise" last week, so I'm really on the lookout for any nuclear energy links that I think might be of interest to the local community. This has been a challenge since Dan Yurman closed shop on is Idaho Samizdat: Nuke Notes blog, but a lot of what he posted was pretty esoteric while I'm on the hunt for more general interest stuff.

This ran on the Salon.com Web site this morning: Climate experts to enviros: The time has come to embrace nuclear power.

Of course you can read the comments that follow this article, too, and read the links people post there.

Interesting nuclear power link from the New York Times

British Prime Minister David Cameron speaking Monday at the Hinckley Point B nuclear power station in southwest England. (New York Times photo)

I found this recent story from the New York Times  interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which was a mention of Areva, whose uranium enrichment project west of Idaho Falls has been on hold for nearly two years. It pretty much sums up the challenges nuclear power is facing at the moment. Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/business/international/britain-and-edf-sign-nuclear-plant-deal.html

Deck goes onto D Street bridge

On the way home Thursday, I thought it worth the effort to climb the dirt pile on the north end of the new D Street underpass project to get a level view of what's going on. The long-awaited project is scheduled to be finished sometime in 2014.