Nuclear Safety Innovation with Ashley Stowe

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Welcome to AMSEcast, coming to you from Oak Ridge, Tennessee,

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a global leader in science, technology, and innovation.

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My name is Alan Lowe, director of the American Museum

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of Science and Energy, and the K-25 History Center.

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Each episode of AMSEcast presents world-renowned authors,

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scientists, historians, policymakers, and everyone in between,

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sharing their insights on a variety of fascinating topics.

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Welcome to AMSEcast.

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I’m so pleased to be joined in person on this episode

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by Dr. Ashley Stowe, director of the Oak Ridge Enhanced

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Technology and Training Center, or ORETTC, part of Y-12 CNS.

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Ashley joined the Y-12 National Security Complex

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in 2007 and has been director of ORETTC since 2021.

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Prior to that, his roles at Y-12 had included serving as a senior

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development chemist, as program manager of CNS’s university

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partnerships and minority-serving institutions partnership program,

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as a Googin Fellow, and as manager of that Fellows program, and

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as director of the Nuclear Forensics and Detection Initiative.

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Ashley received his PhD in chemistry from Florida State

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University and his MBA from the University of Tennessee.

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He holds a number of adjunct positions at several universities,

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including UT, and has been widely published and recognized for his work.

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Ashley, it’s great to have you join us in AMSEcast.

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Alan, thank you for having me.

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Welcome.

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Glad to have you here at AMSE, in person.

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Yeah.

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It’s so nice to chat with you locally here,

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and I come to the museum all the time.

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Well, thank you for your support, sir. We appreciate it.

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So, I just told a bit about your background.

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I’m always curious when I talk to successful

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people how they came to their field of endeavor.

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You know, what led you, in your youth, to say, this is something I want to do?

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And then how did you end up at Y-12?

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I knew all along I wanted to do chemistry,

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chemical engineering, things of that nature.

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I was always curious about how things worked.

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I guess you would say I was a bit of a

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troublemaker I would always try to see what I co—

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I can’t see that, Ashley.

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I can’t see that.

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I used to always try to see what I could mix

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together and see how big of a boom it would make.

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And I found that if you’re interested in engineering, science,

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that kind of stuff, there’s kind of two sides to people.

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People who want to build stuff or break stuff.

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I was more on the break stuff.

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But I found over the years it’s more fun to build stuff.

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So, I’ve always known that I wanted to do that.

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I also knew I wanted to play baseball, and so mostly I followed baseball,

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and my parents made sure I did a little bit of schoolwork as well.

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There you go.

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And when I got hurt in college, I kind of refocused on chemistry, and then

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had a really nice girl who’s now my wife who said, “Maybe you should pay

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attention to your classes,” and that kind of set me down this path of studying

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chemistry and doing research. And so, that’s kind of how I got into the field.

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Actually, when I came to Y-12, I was interviewing

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at ORNL to work over the Spallation Neutron Source.

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And when I gave my presentation on my research, a couple of guys

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from Y-12 came up to me afterwards, and basically said, “You don’t

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know who we are, but you need to come work for us.” That’s how I

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ended up at Y-12. I had a certain set of skills through my education,

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and postdocs, and so forth, that allowed me to help solve a problem

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that Y-12 had when I first came in. So, that’s how I got to Y-12.

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Very interesting.

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I always think back to my college days, Ashley,

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where chemistry was the great unknown to me.

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I think I didn’t give it a good enough chance.

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It scared me, frankly, but now I’ve learned

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to really be kind of enthralled by it.

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It’s really fascinating.

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And so, I’m impressed that you took that course,

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and your wife was very wise to tell you that.

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I assume you still follow baseball, though.

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Oh, always.

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Okay, good.

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Good.

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Thank goodness.

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We don’t want to lose you.

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So, let’s talk a bit about, for those listeners who might not know that

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much about Y-12, what is its mission overall and how is it operated?

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So, the Y-12 National Security Complex dates back to the Manhattan Project.

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We were one of the four sites created in the early-1940s

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for World War II and creating the atomic bomb.

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As we moved from World War II, through the Cold War, and even

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to today, Y-12 maintains that mission of the nuclear deterrent.

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We are part of the manufacturing process of the nuclear

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weapon within the nuclear security enterprise, and so,

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our primary mission is maintaining that nuclear deterrent.

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We also supply fuel for the nuclear navy as well as leverage all of

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our expertise in the nuclear weapons process, and handling those types

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of materials to provide global security efforts across the globe.

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Y-12 is operated by a joint venture called Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC.

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That joint venture involves Bechtel National, Leidos, ATK

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Launch Systems, and SOC, along with Booz Allen Hamilton.

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This is basically a group that manages our facility

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for the government through a contracting mechanism.

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I see.

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And that’s part of the Department of Energy the government part is—

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That’s correct.

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The Department of Energy, right?

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Yeah, it’s the NNSA, National Nuclear Security

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Administration, under the Department of Energy.

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I see.

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I see.

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So, I noted in your intro that you became director of ORETTC in 2021.

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When and why was ORETTC founded?

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Was that when it was founded or when was

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it founded, and what is its basic mission?

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The idea of ORETTC goes back about 15 years to a guy

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named Toby Williams, who still works out at Y-12.

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He recognized a need for a training mission for first responders,

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police officers, firefighters, people that worked at hospitals,

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at universities, that had nuclear radiological material,

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as nuclear medicine, for example, has continued to develop.

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There are really good therapies and therapy centers that

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involve radioactive materials, and while they are excellent

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therapies to keep us safe, they also create a new threat.

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And when bad guys want to do bad things, it’s a whole

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lot easier to get that material from a hospital than

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it is from a place like Y-12, which is highly secured.

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And so, that created a need for a training mission to help close that

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training gap with first responders, with police officers, et cetera.

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For the last 15, 16 years, we’ve provided that

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service to the community through an NNSA program.

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And as we continue to grow and develop that program, there was a

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recognition that there was a need for a campus, a need for a facility

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that was purpose-built to provide that training near Y-12, but offsite

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of Y-12 so that we could de-risk activities—global security activities—on

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site, and make it easier for our training participants to come in.

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And so, Toby and his team developed a plan and received funding

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for building that facility, and then I was asked to come in

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and lead it as we went through construction and stood it up.

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Our opening date was January 9th of 2023.

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We took all the time from when I started to set up our policies

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and procedures, even down to branding and things of that nature.

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An impressive facility it is.

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I wonder, of the people who come and take that training, how are they chosen?

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Is that something where you work with entities

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around, I assume, the country and the world?

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So, we have trained, over the last 15 years, individuals and departments from

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48 of the 50 states—there’s two states that don’t have radioactive sources

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and so we don’t have a need to train them—as well as over 20 countries.

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It’s a voluntary program.

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So, the way that the program works is, NNSA will provide a detection suite to

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the facility in return for their willingness to participate in the training.

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So, we’re providing them equipment that gets installed at their

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facility, and then our folks, along with other folks around the

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national security enterprise, train them on how the equipment

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works and how to think about the hazards as they do their response.

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We don’t teach tactics per se.

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We teach how to use the equipment and how to understand response

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to high consequence events in those types of hazard scenarios.

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So, where do you find your trainers?

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Are those all in NNSA, or is it—how do you

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find the folks who do that type of work?

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Our staff are fantastic, and we find them in the field.

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Our subject matter experts are truly subject matter experts,

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having done the job, not just read about it in a book.

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So, for the most part, our physical security comes from folks who do physical

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security, whether that’s the Y-12 security force or special operations.

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We have emergency response personnel, firefighters who have been firefighters.

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And importantly, along with those technical subject

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matter experts in the technical areas of our training,

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we also have subject matter experts in education.

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We have instructional system designers that are adult learning

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experts to make sure that as we design training, it’s designed for

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adult professionals in a way that will maximize their learning.

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And then of course as we move into technologies,

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we’re hiring experts in those fields.

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Now, that’s probably one of the more unique groups.

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We’re reaching into universities to find game designers because the

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platforms that we build on are the same platforms that you build video

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games, but we’re applying their unique skill set to serious games, to

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simulations and models that help with our unique training scenarios.

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Tell me more what you can about those technologies.

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I know when we’ve spoken before, those are very exciting

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what you all are undertaking out there with new technology.

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Many of your listeners will have heard of virtual reality or augmented reality.

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These are some of the techniques that we’re using.

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The same kind of headsets that you’ve seen in the commercial industry,

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or perhaps even your kids may have, we leverage those types of

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technology, and instead of it being a boxing game or some sort of

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visualization for entertainment, we will put a manufacturing facility

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in there, or we’ll put in a hospital, or we’ll put in a radioactive

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source and help to visualize dosirings, so the amount of radioactivity

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that’s given off to help people understand the things they cannot see.

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It helps the first responders, whether it’s police or otherwise, gain

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a quick understanding, and a deeper understanding of the hazards that

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they face in a way that they may not be able to understand, having

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not gone through a physics curriculum and things of that nature.

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So, what about thinking in terms of what types of facilities

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you’re training to address these high consequence events?

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Hospitals, for example.

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Is it also places like nuclear power plants, that type of thing?

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Is that part of what you’re training for?

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So, right now our focus—well, I’ll say this.

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Our vision is to become the preeminent training facility for high consequence

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events around radiation response, nuclear processing, and then a place that

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leverages these emerging technologies to apply to training in these purposes.

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And so, we’ve talked a lot so far about emergency response, these high

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consequence radiation response scenarios, and in those cases, yes,

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it’s mostly universities that have either medical centers or research

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reactors, it’s hospitals, therapy centers, and things of that nature.

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In the nuclear processing world, it could be training our next generation

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of workers at Y-12, or it could be folks that are working in this

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nuclear renaissance, whether that’s small modular reactors, nuclear

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fuel fabrication for these advanced reactors, or power plants directly.

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So, we envision the types of techniques and the types of training that we do

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applying very well for the nuclear power industry, especially since the governor

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has put so much meat into building that industry here in East Tennessee.

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Yeah, he’s done an amazing job with that, and this is the place to be, Ashley.

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You know that [laugh] . Just is right around us right

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now, hundreds of companies, and certainly the federal

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government, such a big role in nuclear energy for the future.

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Well, Ashley, you also play a role in non-proliferation issues.

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What role do you play in that, in non-proliferation

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and counter-proliferation activities?

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Of course.

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So, I mentioned that one of Y-12’s missions is global security.

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In global security, that is the nuclear non-proliferation mission.

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So, we have experts—and this is looking beyond my specific group

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or the activities we do at ORETTC—we have experts who go all over

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the world and secure material, and bring it home to make sure

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that adversaries can’t get it and use it for nefarious means.

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Again, as our workforce ages and we begin to take the Cold War

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pioneers who have 30, 40 years of experience and replace them

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with really excited 22-year-olds who have very little experience,

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we have to figure out how to accelerate their training process.

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And so, we believe that at ORETTC, we have a role to play in helping in that

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knowledge transfer, and then creating simulation scenarios that allow this

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next generation of workforce to apply the skills they learned in realistic

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ways, whether that’s creating a scenario where they have to identify certain

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types of materials or they have to learn how to apply protection measures,

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we have the ability to create those scenarios that take what they’ve learned

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in a classroom and apply it in realistic ways, and in a safe environment

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where they’re able to make mistakes, and learn, and recover and practice

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before they go out into the field where they’re working with real materials.

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So, important.

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I know I just attended a program at the Howard Baker School at UT,

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and talking about the future of nuclear, one of the speakers noted

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that as we look at this nuclear renaissance two of the big factors

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we have to think about is, first of all, costs and how we address

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those, and SMRs and other things are part of that answer that

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question, but then proliferation and making sure that that’s handled.

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So, what you’re doing is not only vitally important to the security and safety

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of the world, but to the continued growth of that enterprise, that again, that

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is so important to climate change, and addressing the climate change issues.

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So, very important work you’re doing there.

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And I guess I would ask, in that and all the other

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training you’re doing, how do you evaluate, at the end

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of the day, how effective you’re being in that training?

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Well, evaluation is probably one of the more important things that we do.

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There’s a lot of training out there that’s not effective.

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I know.

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I’ve been through some of it.

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And so, we spend a lot of time, even in the needs analysis on the front

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end, asking the question, what are we trying to get out of this training?

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And then as we work our way through it, we apply a number of evaluation methods,

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but Kirkpatrick’s levels of learning evaluation is one of the main ones.

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There’s four levels, and basically it starts with something

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as simple as a Likert scale, a simple, how did you feel?

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One to five, kind of, scenario as soon as you’re ending.

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Are you more familiar with it?

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And then as it goes from the person attending the training, in that moment of

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completion and their first impressions to getting farther and farther away from

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that initial training, there’s levels of complexity that goes into it where

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you move from how did the individual experience the training to, how did they

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apply the skills in the training when they got back home, or back to their area?

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And then how does that build up to a department or a company level?

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And then finally, what kind of ROI, what kind

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of real impact are you having in behavior?

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Doing those higher levels of evaluation are exceedingly hard

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to accomplish, and many groups don’t put that effort in because

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it’s hard to quantify, but we are putting a concerted effort into

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getting to that level because that’s where the real value is.

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We’ve all been through training where it was a really fun week, we learned

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a few things, and then we get back home and put that training manual

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back on the shelf, and don’t change anything about what we’re doing.

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That’s a waste of the training.

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So, we have to make sure that we are engaged to the point to help our

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learners take what they’ve learned with us back home and put it into practice.

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Do they come back?

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Is that something where you say, well, I’m going to

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come back next year and do another set of training?

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What’s the ongoing engagement with that specific person?

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I’ll answer that not just for the person,

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but for the department or the facility.

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We have a few training courses that they would go through, and

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it’s kind of like a scope and sequence in an academic curriculum.

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Everything from engagements before they arrive with a little bit of

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pre-work to their engagement in what I would call a 101 level course.

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For us, it’s the alarm response training course for

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this one program around radiological emergencies.

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And then we would send them back home with a new set of fundamental

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skills, and some encouragement to apply those back in their work setting.

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We will then reach out to them 6 to 12 months later for

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follow-ups on how it’s been applied or implemented back home.

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We then will go through tabletop exercises that

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will help them to test how they’ve applied it.

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And then ultimately, we would send a team to their facility to do

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exercises that, again, provide a level of realism in dynamic practice to

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how they’re applying these new skills or implementing these new skills.

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From there, we can continue to go, and we end up

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partnering with other national labs, to do other aspects.

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But it ultimately will grow from an individual learning the

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fundamentals to applying it in their space, in their facility,

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and then out to joint groups, joint departments, doing exercises

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together that would interact beyond the Department of Energy

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with other cabinet departments for some of these joint exercises.

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I guess, I know we’ve talked before, Ashley, and I’d missed the

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fact that you also go out in the field then, as part of this.

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And if someone—I’m sure you have amazing communications with

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folks who would benefit from this, but if someone happened to be

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listening to AMSEcast, which I hope, frankly, everyone in America is

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listening right now, and they had an interest in taking part in this

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training, where do they go to find out how they connect with you?

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Well, so they can reach out to me directly.

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It’s ashley.stowe@pxy12.doe.gov.

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And then very soon we’ll be standing up a ORETTC website, ORETTC

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O-R-E-T-T-C—dot energy dot gov. We are exceedingly close, but never close

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enough to getting that website pushed forward and out to the public.

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We’ve just gotten, I think, our final approval

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to be able to go live, as of this morning.

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Hopefully by the time this airs, your audience

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will be able to reach our website directly.

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Good.

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Good.

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They used to make fun of me.

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I was director of the George W. Bush Library and Museum, and it took forever

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to get our website there done, and so I would start every staff meeting

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with, “When do I get the website?” And I was a, beat the drum incessantly for

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that, Ashley, and I got it done, finally [laugh] . So, it takes some effort.

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But kind of in that same vein of how to find out more information,

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if we have parents listening, who their kids might be interested in

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this type of work in the future, or frankly someone out there who

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wants to—some student out there who wants to study and be in Ashley

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Stowe’s world when they go into their career, how do they do that?

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What’s your advice for them?

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So, I think my overall advice would be to stay curious.

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Always ask questions.

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Most of my experience, most of my success has simply been from

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asking questions, for being willing to participate in things that

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I didn’t know the answer to when I started, and being willing to

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listen to those who do have more information and learn from them.

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In a more pointed way, if you’re interested in science or technology,

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there are great museums, like AMSE, that have STEM programs.

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It’s never too early to start those.

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For those who are high school or college age, there are excellent engineering

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programs, especially in East Tennessee, at the University of Tennessee, of

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course, but as well as Pellissippi State and Roane State Community Colleges.

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We’re partnering currently with Roane State to create a

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nuclear technology program specifically designed at the

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two-year level to create workers to work in our industry.

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And we’re actually partnering with them directly on a unique training

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mechanism that will teach these students how to work inside of glove boxes.

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So, we have a virtual reality system with something called

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haptic gloves that allow you to touch and feel digital objects.

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So, even though there’s nothing in your hand,

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it feels like you’re holding a baseball.

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It has the weight of a baseball.

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It has the texture of the seams, and you can feel that.

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If we apply that to a glove box, you feel the

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pressure of the gas inside protecting the material.

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As you put your hand into the glove box, you feel the

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weight of the object that you’re trying to pick up.

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You feel the pain and frustration of lost

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dexterity because you have oversized gloves.

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And so, we’re trying to bring those technologies into the classroom

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so that people who are interested in moving into this field can learn

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as early as possible what it’s actually going to be like, and make an

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informed decision about whether they want to continue in the program.

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It also helps us on the CNS Y-12 side, as well as other companies that

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use glove boxes because it reduces that training and onboarding process.

376
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Yeah.

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I should tell you, I started working with Joe and the folks at Rhone

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00:23:00,710 --> 00:23:04,530
State on that very program of seeing how we can help with the K-12

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part of that, and I think it took part the last couple of weeks in some

380
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pilot work they were doing there with Tennessee Tech, I do believe.

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Yes.

382
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And Tennessee Tech is also creating a nuclear engineering program.

383
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We just heard about that.

384
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So, it’s—yeah—

385
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Yeah, I’m really excited to see how that grows.

386
00:23:21,500 --> 00:23:25,899
As we’ve talked about, East Tennessee’s the epicenter of the nuclear renaissance

387
00:23:25,900 --> 00:23:32,580
right now, and so we need as many workforce efforts and curriculum to build

388
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that workforce of the future because there’s going to be a lot of companies.

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We already have seen a lot of companies coming into the area.

390
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Another shortfall in workforce that we have currently that I hope we’re

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going to be able to address very soon is as we have more companies coming

392
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into this area, as we have more companies moving to simulation technologies,

393
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there’s a shortage of people who are experts in game design or game craft.

394
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We’ve also begun partnering with the University of Tennessee to

395
00:24:03,470 --> 00:24:06,240
create a certificate program that we’re hoping will grow into

396
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,790
a full degree program through the new University of Tennessee

397
00:24:09,830 --> 00:24:13,000
College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies called Game Craft.

398
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And I have the privilege of participating and teaching

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that first class this fall, an intro to Game Craft.

400
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And the idea about all of it is, we’re helping to teach people how

401
00:24:24,490 --> 00:24:28,620
to build these simulations, whether that be for digital twins to

402
00:24:29,190 --> 00:24:34,220
understand the engineering design of a facility, or the operational

403
00:24:34,299 --> 00:24:38,240
protocol of that facility, all the way down to emergency response.

404
00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:43,610
And the idea when you’re dealing with such high hazard environments as

405
00:24:43,670 --> 00:24:48,379
a nuclear power plant or nuclear materials for nuclear manufacturing,

406
00:24:48,660 --> 00:24:52,820
you want to train people in a realistic way without having the

407
00:24:52,820 --> 00:24:56,060
hazard in front of them, especially early in that learning curve.

408
00:24:56,510 --> 00:25:01,330
That way they can get hands-on, they can get that experiential learning,

409
00:25:01,740 --> 00:25:04,750
and are able to make mistakes and still go home at the end of the day.

410
00:25:04,790 --> 00:25:08,589
So, that’s really important to us, but we have to reach into other states to

411
00:25:08,589 --> 00:25:12,200
go find our workforce, and we’re hoping to build that here in East Tennessee.

412
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,100
I should note as part of that, University of Tennessee Nuclear

413
00:25:15,100 --> 00:25:18,410
Engineering Department is one of the best in the country.

414
00:25:18,670 --> 00:25:20,550
Wes Hines, who helped build that over the past many

415
00:25:20,550 --> 00:25:23,279
years, is on our board of directors, and really great guy.

416
00:25:23,290 --> 00:25:24,360
I’ve known him for many years.

417
00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:27,560
But just an amazing work they did there with nuclear engineering.

418
00:25:27,809 --> 00:25:28,680
What’s next for ORETTC?

419
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:33,240
What do you see on the horizon in the short term or long term?

420
00:25:33,950 --> 00:25:36,050
Well, I think one of the most exciting things for us

421
00:25:36,050 --> 00:25:38,709
is we’re about to break ground on our second facility.

422
00:25:38,860 --> 00:25:42,260
We talk about ORETTC as a campus, but we’ve only had

423
00:25:42,260 --> 00:25:44,879
one building, so I’m excited that we can actually get

424
00:25:44,889 --> 00:25:48,990
to a second building and truly start to become a campus.

425
00:25:49,090 --> 00:25:54,240
ORETTC was built as a unique state-federal partnership, and so the

426
00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:59,879
building we’re in now is actually a county-owned building that was funded

427
00:25:59,889 --> 00:26:03,690
through appropriations from the state of Tennessee from Governor Lee.

428
00:26:03,910 --> 00:26:07,450
CNS now leases that building, and our second building will

429
00:26:07,450 --> 00:26:11,370
actually be a federally funded, federally owned building.

430
00:26:11,860 --> 00:26:18,210
And what that allows us to do is mix and match our hazard envelopes.

431
00:26:18,580 --> 00:26:22,970
So, our first building, we’re able to have ease of access,

432
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,649
a lot of classroom and simulation spaces, but low hazard.

433
00:26:26,770 --> 00:26:30,540
As we move into our second facility, it will have a higher hazard

434
00:26:30,750 --> 00:26:34,220
envelope, allowing us to take what we’ve learned in the classroom,

435
00:26:34,220 --> 00:26:38,780
and what we’ve practiced in simulation space, and then interact with

436
00:26:38,780 --> 00:26:42,480
nuclear materials at a pilot scale, again in a very controlled way.

437
00:26:42,830 --> 00:26:48,450
But it gets closer to real life, closer to real scale of interaction.

438
00:26:48,590 --> 00:26:54,129
So, we should be breaking ground on that in August of 2024, and then

439
00:26:54,570 --> 00:27:00,620
moving into that facility by the end of 2025, if all things go on schedule.

440
00:27:00,620 --> 00:27:03,130
So, that is one thing I’m very excited about.

441
00:27:03,490 --> 00:27:06,950
Let’s see, beyond that, a couple of technology things that are,

442
00:27:07,290 --> 00:27:11,549
I think, unique to us, we have an LED volume that’s 10 feet

443
00:27:11,550 --> 00:27:17,080
high, 36 feet across, 16 feet deep, and it makes, basically,

444
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:21,260
a room that we can put any environment we can create onto it.

445
00:27:21,330 --> 00:27:27,639
And so, we use these simulation technologies to bring a facility, at scale,

446
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:32,260
in to the user, in to that training participant to allow them to have a

447
00:27:32,690 --> 00:27:37,410
level of immersion and realism that they wouldn’t be able to get otherwise.

448
00:27:37,690 --> 00:27:39,820
So, imagine that you’re trying to learn how to

449
00:27:39,830 --> 00:27:42,800
work in a building that hasn’t been built yet.

450
00:27:43,350 --> 00:27:45,560
If we have the engineering drawings, we can build that

451
00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:49,230
environment and train the staff before the building is done.

452
00:27:49,420 --> 00:27:54,880
We’re also hoping to bring in a holographic table technology.

453
00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:59,140
So, the things that at least I admired from Star Wars

454
00:27:59,140 --> 00:28:02,180
and Star Trek, we’re bringing those things to life.

455
00:28:02,420 --> 00:28:05,370
We’re not quite to a holodeck yet, but we’re getting close.

456
00:28:05,370 --> 00:28:06,230
[laugh] . Let me know when you are.

457
00:28:06,500 --> 00:28:06,870
I mean I’m— [laugh]

458
00:28:08,009 --> 00:28:12,620
.
And all of this is for a learning purpose, and that’s what’s really exciting.

459
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,450
All of these technologies that seemed like they’re science fiction,

460
00:28:15,460 --> 00:28:20,189
seemed like they were child’s games that, at least, I played all the

461
00:28:20,190 --> 00:28:27,000
time, we’re now using as adults to train adults in very realistic ways.

462
00:28:27,380 --> 00:28:31,480
And it’s certainly a lot more engaging than PowerPoint

463
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,730
slide after PowerPoint slide after PowerPoint slide.

464
00:28:33,730 --> 00:28:35,070
So, that’s what’s coming for us.

465
00:28:35,350 --> 00:28:36,129
That’s amazing.

466
00:28:36,980 --> 00:28:40,479
The advance of technology, the rapidity of it, it’s amazing to me.

467
00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:43,630
I remember just not that many years ago hearing about 3D printing.

468
00:28:44,070 --> 00:28:45,730
And I thought, “Well, that’s magic.

469
00:28:45,740 --> 00:28:47,674
That’s not going to happen.” And now look how it’s everywhere.

470
00:28:47,674 --> 00:28:48,599
Oh, it’s ubiquitous.

471
00:28:48,620 --> 00:28:48,790
Yeah.

472
00:28:48,790 --> 00:28:50,090
Yeah, absolutely is.

473
00:28:50,090 --> 00:28:53,140
So, Ashley, I’m really interested in this LED volume.

474
00:28:53,190 --> 00:28:54,190
Can you tell me more about it?

475
00:28:54,970 --> 00:28:55,200
Yeah.

476
00:28:55,200 --> 00:29:01,230
So, the LED volume is basically a server with a huge, huge screen.

477
00:29:01,679 --> 00:29:07,500
And in our high bay, we use this to bring people into a variety of environments.

478
00:29:07,730 --> 00:29:10,150
One of the ones that we’ve created more

479
00:29:10,150 --> 00:29:12,440
recently—and there’s actually a training purpose.

480
00:29:12,460 --> 00:29:17,020
We had one of our subject matter experts drive through

481
00:29:17,020 --> 00:29:19,899
downtown Knoxville with a GoPro on his vehicle.

482
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,729
So, he does a few laps through downtown, down Market

483
00:29:23,730 --> 00:29:26,940
Street—or Market Square, Main Street, et cetera.

484
00:29:26,980 --> 00:29:28,139
Through UT’s campus.

485
00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:32,340
And then he brought it back, put it on the LED volume as a video.

486
00:29:32,500 --> 00:29:35,800
He then will move a vehicle into that space.

487
00:29:36,250 --> 00:29:39,329
And when you sit in the vehicle, it’s so

488
00:29:39,330 --> 00:29:42,519
immersive, we’ve had people slam on the brakes.

489
00:29:42,570 --> 00:29:44,649
For a vehicle that’s not even running.

490
00:29:45,820 --> 00:29:46,054
[laugh] . Right.

491
00:29:46,260 --> 00:29:49,090
The people, when you turn left, will lean

492
00:29:49,510 --> 00:29:51,290
the way they would in a moving vehicle.

493
00:29:52,150 --> 00:29:56,479
When it comes to a stop, they will lunge forward because your brain is

494
00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:00,130
filling in the gaps, and it makes you feel like you’re actually moving.

495
00:30:00,539 --> 00:30:01,889
Now, why would we do that?

496
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:05,090
We work with teams that are sent around the country and

497
00:30:05,090 --> 00:30:10,410
around the world to make sure that we’re safe from harm, from

498
00:30:10,410 --> 00:30:16,279
explosives, or radiological devices in large public gatherings.

499
00:30:16,619 --> 00:30:22,269
And some of their vehicles have certain unique detection systems

500
00:30:22,750 --> 00:30:26,880
that if we were going to help them practice in the real world, we

501
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:31,610
would have to take an actual radiological source into a public area.

502
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:38,120
We can spoof that by having them come into our facility, get the experience

503
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:42,820
of driving around, and then use the source in our facility in a very

504
00:30:42,820 --> 00:30:46,870
controlled way to set off their detectors, and practice their response.

505
00:30:47,130 --> 00:30:49,590
They’re able to observe what’s happening.

506
00:30:49,940 --> 00:30:54,969
And oftentimes we will plant an actor as we’re driving around

507
00:30:54,980 --> 00:30:58,530
that does something that looks a bit suspicious, and then we’ll

508
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,430
make that part of the training profile, the training video

509
00:31:02,430 --> 00:31:06,010
that we’re working off of, and line up all of these events.

510
00:31:06,290 --> 00:31:08,699
So, that’s one scenario of the things we’re

511
00:31:08,700 --> 00:31:11,159
thinking about doing on our LED volume.

512
00:31:11,770 --> 00:31:12,490
That’s amazing.

513
00:31:12,750 --> 00:31:16,420
I can vouch just in terms of your technologies

514
00:31:16,420 --> 00:31:18,120
in general, how realistic they are.

515
00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:21,840
You brought in the virtual reality glove box, is that right—

516
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:22,155
That’s right, yes.

517
00:31:22,260 --> 00:31:27,100
For one of our Nuclear Education Discovery Day and did a great job.

518
00:31:27,100 --> 00:31:28,070
Thank you for doing that.

519
00:31:28,070 --> 00:31:32,550
And I put on the goggles, and handled some materials in the glove box.

520
00:31:32,550 --> 00:31:35,180
And at one point you had to say, “You know, Alan, it’s

521
00:31:35,180 --> 00:31:37,379
not really there,” because I was leaning around, I was

522
00:31:37,380 --> 00:31:40,139
leaning in trying to do it correctly, but it felt so real.

523
00:31:40,139 --> 00:31:43,570
I felt like I had to do those actions to perform the function.

524
00:31:43,690 --> 00:31:46,030
And that’s why we do what we do.

525
00:31:46,990 --> 00:31:50,430
When you have—we start leaning and reaching because you

526
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,850
think there’s a physical object separating you, a barrier

527
00:31:53,850 --> 00:31:56,450
in front of you, even though you’re standing in empty space.

528
00:31:56,990 --> 00:32:01,650
That’s where we start to see the true value of this type of training.

529
00:32:02,210 --> 00:32:06,210
Just truly amazing what you’re doing, to a very important purpose, Ashley.

530
00:32:06,210 --> 00:32:09,500
We appreciate what you’re doing and I appreciate you being on AMSEcast.

531
00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:10,600
Oh, thank you so much.

532
00:32:15,849 --> 00:32:18,529
Thank you for joining us on this episode of AMSEcast.

533
00:32:18,950 --> 00:32:23,259
For more information on this topic or any others, you can always visit us at

534
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:29,900
AMSE.org or find, like, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

535
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:32,719
I invite you to visit the American Museum of Science

536
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:35,530
and Energy and the K-25 History Center in person.

537
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:39,990
You can also shop at our online store and become a member at AMSE.org.

538
00:32:40,469 --> 00:32:43,910
Thanks to our production team with Matt Mullins, plus our supportive colleagues

539
00:32:43,910 --> 00:32:47,750
at the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Office of Environmental

540
00:32:47,750 --> 00:32:51,739
Management, and Office of Legacy Management, as well as Oak Ridge National

541
00:32:51,740 --> 00:32:57,580
Laboratory, the Y-12 National Security Complex, NNSA, and the AMSE Foundation.

542
00:32:58,090 --> 00:32:59,810
And of course, thanks to our wonderful guests

543
00:32:59,810 --> 00:33:01,650
today, and to all of you for listening.

544
00:33:02,140 --> 00:33:04,980
I hope you’ll join us for the next episode of AMSEcast.

545
00:33:07,530 --> 00:33:10,500
If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, I would like to ask that you consider

546
00:33:10,500 --> 00:33:15,080
becoming a member of the 117 Society, the newest membership opportunity

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00:33:15,130 --> 00:33:18,580
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By joining the 117 Society, you will help us continue

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551
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552
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553
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554
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556
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557
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558
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559
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