On April 5, the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering (NQe) held its Nuclear Vision & Course Exposition at the KAIST Institute Building from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Hosted by KAIST, the NQe Department, and the Korea Nuclear International Cooperation Foundation, and sponsored by Doosan Heavy Industries, FNC Technology, and Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, the expo was carried out under its catchphrase, “From future energy to cutting-edge medical technology.”
Professor Man-Sung Yim of the NQe Department began the expo with his introductory speech on Korea’s position in the world and how its nuclear technology developed in such a short period of time. For instance, Korea is now the world’s fifth most nuclear power generating nation with 23 existing power plants and 9 more to be built. Korea supplies 40 percent of its total energy demands from nuclear power and boasts technological know-how that is advanced enough to win overseas power-plant construction contracts. Professor Yim also remarked that countries moving away from nuclear power, such as Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium, are not necessarily our models for the future of energy generation. On the contrary, Korea must be the leader in the field of nuclear and quantum engineering and focus on developing safer technologies. Quoting Alan Hanson from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “[The] future of world’s nuclear power depends on the success of [the Republic of Korea]’s nuclear power development.”
After Professor Yim’s speech, Nam Sung Ahn, Head of Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning, delivered his speech on energy infrastructure, research and development, and the role of nuclear power. He mainly discussed ways to deal with the exponentially increasing population and the corresponding increase in energy demands. Scarcity of resources will lead to the collapse of the economy and the entire society if humans do not intervene properly. The key point in sustaining the society is to increase resource productivity, which nuclear engineering does its best job.
In addition, the role of nuclear engineering in medical innovation was also introduced by Chul Koo Cho, Director General of Korea Cancer Center Hospital, followed by dozens of career booths for prospective nuclear engineers in the second half of the expo.