NA-YGN Conference

The past couple days I have been in Washington DC for an advocacy conference for the North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN). Billy stayed in Lynchburg to hold down the fort and take care of the baddest but cutest dog.

I arrived Sunday and we had the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Chairman, as well as a couple other CEO's of various utilities speak with us. That night we had a reception with an open bar, and overall it was a lot of fun.

Below are Will and Rolando, a Chemical Engineer and Electrical Engineer, respectively from AREVA.

Monday we had seminars on costs of new nuclear, waste, and my favorite, supply chain. The supply chain seminar received the top spot because it consisted of a panel of VPs from the TOP THREE (AREVA, Westinghouse, and GE). The men were really impressive and it brought about a huge sense of pride to be there representing AREVA.

For lunch, the AREVA representatives from the Lynchburg, Bethesda, Fort Worth, and Charlotte offices had a luncheon with Jacques Besnainou, our US President. He had an infectious personality and really values the youth in the company. He even offered to write a check immediately for our advocacy efforts if we proposed a budget!

That night, after another open bar, rubbing elbows with all of the big wigs in the nuclear industry, and appetizers, we decided to hit a Thai restaurant for some socializing and excellent food!

Tuesday morning we had meetings on the Hill with various Congressmen from our state. I listed myself as a North Carolina constituent since I do still submit absentee ballots despite living in VA. I will never consider myself a Virginian. Anyway I was the lead for my team of 5 and we started in Rep Kissel's office and ended in Senator Hagan's office. It was truly a valuable experience because I now have the confidence to do the same types of advocacy on my own. Not to mention, just being on the Hill turn me into a pleasant optimist about myself and my country.

Below is Carrington, who was on my team and who also informed me that someone with his exact name (J. Carrington Dillon) is on the national terrorist watch list. Hahahahaha. He said we probably weren't going to get into any of the Congress buildings with him in our group.

My team is below... we had representatives from Shaw Group, Westinghouse, EPRI and AREVA.

The entire NC group...

My Charlotte AREVA folk...