Amelia Tiemann with the American Nuclear Society
Quick Summary
- Amelia is interested in how energy powers civilization and how we can transition from fossil fuels to a new paradigm of clean energy, equitability, and abundance.
My name is Amelia Tiemann and I am a second-year EPM student. I graduated from Bard College with a B.A. in Environmental and Urban Studies. I’m interested in how energy powers civilization and how we can transition from fossil fuels to a new paradigm of clean energy, equitability, and abundance.
For my practicum, I worked with the American Nuclear Society, the international, not-for-profit society representing professionals in the field of nuclear science and technology. The mission of ANS is to advance, foster, and spur the development and application of nuclear science, engineering, and technology to benefit society. My practicum included various duties to help expand the organization’s ability to interact with nuclear professionals, foster industry and government collaboration, and educate the public on nuclear energy issues.
When many people think about nuclear power, they might picture weapons, doom and gloom, or the three-eyed fish from the Simpsons. That’s because when scientists first harnessed the immense power of nuclear fission, the process of splitting atoms in a chain reaction, they used it to build weapons of mass destruction. Fewer people might be aware that nuclear plants serve as the largest (and safest) source of carbon-free power in the U.S. Since the 1950s, the U.S. and other countries have built nuclear power plants that used nuclear fission for the peaceful purpose of producing energy without any greenhouse gas emissions. Still, the world has still not fully embraced nuclear power. But that could be changing. More people are beginning to recognize that nuclear energy could really be a key player in weaning ourselves off our fossil fuel dependence. Nuclear technology delivers carbon-free power that can replace fossil fuels like coal and gas. Electricity from nuclear plants is reliable, and generates at high capacity, rain or shine. Best of all, producing energy with uranium has saved millions of lives by replacing coal and gas, according to climate scientist James Hansen.
I was thrilled to work as a Communications Project Specialist for the American Nuclear Society because I have taken an interest in nuclear energy since college. In line with the company’s mission, my responsibilities involved interfacing with the organization’s membership and the public. Our goals are to build a network of professionals, facilitate government relations, offer educational tools about nuclear energy as a clean energy source, and foster the next generation of nuclear scientists and advocates. I contributed professional writing on nuclear science, climate change, energy policy, energy markets, and other topics, including writing and issuing press releases. I also managed the company’s social media accounts, working alongside the graphic design team to produce attractive and creative social media shareable content, soliciting expert input on issues, leading internal communications strategy meetings, issuing press releases, and facilitating teamwork on projects.
I also helped finalize and deliver a radiation conversion tool for journalists, policymakers and the public to use online. I served as Project Lead in overseeing a team of radiation experts from ANS and the Health Physics Society in creating a public-facing user interface tool on the ANS website for converting radiation readings of Sieverts/hour or mrem/hour into comprehensible comparisons of an X-ray or cross-country flight. This tool will come in handy by allowing journalists and the public to quickly translate “upper limits” of radiation exposure. The tool is currently in the finalization stage.
I’m grateful for my experience because it helped me to learn more about nuclear energy. I got to be part of the conversation around how to provide the world with abundant clean energy -- not deprive ourselves of it. I also want to continue to communicate my knowledge to the rest of the world through my love of writing and continue to learn about energy policy, sustainability, and equitability.