Nuclear Institute at New Scientist Live 2017
From 28 September to the 2 October, the Nuclear Institute had a stand at the New Scientist Live exhibition at the ExCel Centre in London. The event was visited by over 30,000 people, of all age groups and representing a wide array of interests. Across the exhibition, there were around 100 stands organised in five different zones – technology, human, earth, engineering and cosmos. Each zone had also had a designated stage for talks, alongside the main stage where talks were held by Tim Peake, Heston Blumenthal, and Margaret Attwood just to name a few.
The NI stand situated in the technology zone was supported by the NIA, Birmingham and Imperial Universities, EDF, Horizon, Sellafield and the ONR in raising the profile of nuclear energy as a low carbon energy source. Volunteers from across the NI branches as well as the Nuclear sector were on hand throughout the four days to engage with the public on the role of nuclear as well as to give guidance on routes into the nuclear industry.
The NI stand represented the various uses of nuclear technology. A Positron Emission Tomography demonstration kit provided by the University of Birmingham was used to show the medical uses of nuclear and was incredibly popular with all who visited the stand. Remote controlled Robosapiens and ROVs were used to illustrate remote operation equipment necessary for the decommissioning process and proved to be a massive hit with the younger visitors to the exhibition especially. Alongside the interactive elements we had a wealth of literature provided by the NIA and our other partners, which illustrated the fuel cycle and the inside of a reactor as well as more general facts about nuclear as both an energy source and as an industry.
We found it to be a hugely successful event and will be returning again for 2018!