₦airaland Forum

Everything happening in the ion beam rooms and the experiment areas are controlled and monitored in the control room. The facility itself is very complicated and not somewhere you'd want to spend few hours in.
Experimental processes starts from the control room and is shut down at the control room. For this year, the Ganil facility will start experimental operations on Monday and will go on 24/7 for 3 months.

Once experimental operations is about to start, it is important to check there's no human present in the experimental rooms and ion beam production areas. They ensure this through 4 processes which cost them 2m euros.

I will try to fully explain how things work in Ganil either tomorrow evening or Sunday.

Until then, stay safe.

The Ganil Facility is a Nuclear Physics research institute funded by the French Government and other supporting European partners.

The institute specializes in three research areas:
Nuclear Physics
Atomic Physics and
Material Science

I won't go into details

Like a typical nuclear environment, the facility is shut down and prepared for operations for a certain period of time. The basis here is that once the facility is in operation, the environment is radioactive and access is restricted to major areas for about 3 months. To control what happens at the various unit of the facility, a control room is necessary.

So here is the control room

Truth is, I have alot of pictures and explanations to give. I can't finish it all tonight.

So I will probably stop on my next comment.

Free lunch

We got to the facility and the bus was not allowed to go in.
Got into the building and had an hour and 30 minutes lectures on the operations of the facility, what they do, and why they do that.

We took some coffee in one filling station. Just like the ones in Lokoja Kogi state where travelers pull off to have some drinks.

I took few random pictures on our way.

Of course the roads were very smooth as expected. It was as if we were flying on air.

By the time we left, it was still dark, so I waited until we made a stop at a Total filling station to take the picture of the Benz Machine.

At exactly 7am today, we set out on a 3hrs 3o minutes journey to a Nuclear Research facility called Ganil in CAEN (Pronounced "Corn" France.

We left on a Mercedez Sprinter, fully equipped and made to give you same comfort like that of Boeing NANTES . Trust me, the seats in this vehicle is more comfortable than the Ethiopian Airways seat and many more aircrafts interior.

It's designed to give you a flying experience on the comfortable road of France.

Tinted and narrowed upwards with great dashboard that gives the driver full virtual control of the outside, our destination, and our current position.

I talk too much, when pictures would have done better

Alright guys.

I promised you guys some photo gallery and I am here to fulfill my promise.

The way I was taking picture, one would wonder if Nigeria is trying to replicate same infrastructure . But what they don't know is that we are still battling ethnicity, blame games, leaders and people who doesn't know that the world has left them behind. So we keep moving backwards in time and turn around to blame people.

That is a story for another day but something related to it broke my heart today. But before I get to that, let me lead you through the entire journey.

The goal is not to upload pictures on this thread (I got a lot of them though ), but for you to relate with the pictures so as to fully appreciate or follow the journey.

So welcome, take a seat and whatever will make you comfortable.

Hi Guys,

Tomorrow, 31st January, we will be going on our first company visit. We will visit Ganil-Spiral2 in CAEN France.

Short Intro:
Ganil is home to the French National Accelerator or say, it is the French National Physics Research Centre in CAEN. Ganil has the largest particle accelerator in France and has been an environment for some of the major discoveries in Physics and Nuclear sciences.

So expect pictures (If we are allowed to snap). We will be leaving Nantes by 7am and be at the facility by 10:30am. We will attend a conference/seminar and lead through the equipment and what they are used for.

Until tomorrow, stay tuned.

milvet:
Is one allowed to work and study?

Yes, legally you are allowed to work but the French education system is so intense that you can't cope studying and working especially in grande ecole schools.

bezimo:
I did the PM3E programme..Life is good.Moved somewhere else and it's been great so far.
I miss Nantes sha!! I will definitely visit Nantes next year..i still have some folks there.

We have 2 TOTAL Scholars currently doing the PM3E program.

bezimo:
The way to the MDE..is my guy Pierre Salmon still in charge of accommodation..lol

Nice one bro. 8 years ago, wow. How's life bro?

Lol.

We have to open a court section on nairaland where we will be judging these cases.

Every day, we hear one person's story and they expect us to say something objectively

odinga1of:
Bros I currently got a job as a Large Format Machine Operator,

The emission coming out from the machine when printing large banner is worrisome......


Does it have health implications?

Honestly, I don't know bro. Some people work with dish washing machine and the heat it produces too is worrisome, but doesn't make it too dangerous.

Try to enjoy your work bro and be productivity.

richmanrichard:
bro i've enjoyed myself on this your thread. Kudos! Pls is there any online course that you can recommend for someone whom wants to position him/herself for the future opportunities abound in nuclear energy sector in Nigeria?

I haven't seen any. But University of Portharcourt is doing M.Sc in Nuclear Engineering. Try to read about it.

ninja4life:
I am of the opinion that we can manage a nuclear power plant. It's an efficient source if energy and it's cheaper in the long run. I disagree about your view on Nigerians not appreciating risks. There are perhaps few people as conscious of risk as we are. Also the fact is, the nuclear power plant wont be managed by the average Nigerian, but rather by educated scholars like yourself; who are aware of the risk and will take the necessary precautions.

I also don't think the problem affecting oil vandalism will apply to nuclear power plant, as there's little of direct economic value to be gotten by raiding a nuclear plant.

I agree with you, we need nuclear power plant, it would provide us with a constant amount of electricity generation. Do you have an idea of the amount of power the nuclear plant in akwa ibom is expected to generate?

This is an interesting and educative thread sir. Well done.

Each unit of a NPP produce 1000MW of electricity and maybe 700-800MWe goes to the grid. I don't know how many they want to install. Maybe we are starting with something small.

BelieverDE:
How sure are you?

Any layman could be paid millions to go steal nuclear rods from the power plant.

Would the nuclear plant be made very secure?

How sure are you that that there wouldn't be tribalism and nepotism wouldn't be the order of the day when people are being employed?

Would erudite scholars be considered first for employment?

1. Fuel rods are a very sensitive material, more sensitive and more important that some of our top leaders . It is not stored in a place waiting to be used. It is brought as demanded and installed in the reactor core except if there is a fuel processing plant. To steal it, one have to open the reactor core, and this is very unlikely. You could die trying to steal it.

2. Controlling nepotism is beyond my knowledge as Nigeria is a weird country to live in.

HisGrace0000001:
mrphysics, how far about the football match.
Noticed that Samuel didn't go for the match, also noticed another Nigerian(Remi Oudin) in the lineup.
Abeg give us full gist.

Yes bro. I only saw Simon Moses

I don't know how to add videos on nairaland

...

Filled Stadium

Early shots I took when most people were still outside. Cold nearly killed me today

Seat number 318. Sat down and decided to capture every minute of the game.

Sadly, today was the remembrance of Emilano Sala, the FC Nantes player sold to Cardiff city who lost his life in a plane crash on his way to his new club.

We arrived very early to the stadium. The crowd was much as expected, most people were outside including yours sincerely. Got my ticket and was ready for the show.

FC Nantes bus actually look very cool.

Guys, I told you guys someone from Friends of Nigeria (FON) association invited us to watch the match between FC Nantes and Bordeaux FC.

The guy fulfilled his promise. Not only did he give us a ticket, the ticket was a good one, presidential side. This side was at the centre of the field and everything was clear. We could see the players real height, actions without the help of a camera or referee

BelieverDE:
Why you guys are discussing about electricity production from NPP, I attended this technical program today.

Thanks to MrPhysics for reminding me about this program today by discussing about NPP.

The moment the speaker gave instances on how we adsorb radiation from common sources like Ray's from sunlight, smoking of cigarettes, eating of bananas, potatoes, etc my mind flashed back to you.

MrPhysics, I would love to ask, since we have natural background radiation in rocks, don't you think the radiation emanating from such rocks is harmful to workers on the rig?

Natural background radiation pose no risk to us because they are so low. Don't forget that we as humans are also radioactive. In fact we are told that the natural radiation in France is currently higher than some parts of Fukushima where the nuclear accident happened. Same part that the government is begging people to return and they are refusing, yet the radiation level here is higher.

It is about perception, it is about being bias, it is about the press too. You are radioactive, the next person with you is also radioactive, this level of activity is not dangerous to the health.

However, induced radioactivity from power plants, and oil drilling sites is harmful to the body.

DisGuy:
however many we are generating if we add nuclear, will that get to everyone? I dont think so

Yes we are using 4000, which is not enough, but we can actually generate more than that, there's no point generating more if the system can only transmit about 7 and only about 4 is distributable - last I read about 10 idle generating plants in the country

The emboldened is a lie and I am sure you know that.

Secondly, we need something that is consistent in it's delivery. Once nuclear start operation, it can go 6 months without going off or being shot down. It does not depend on anything unlike our current source that depends on rainy season etc. Also, we need to reexamine how we distribute light. Once nuclear starts operation, it should be targeted to some areas say Lagos, Ph, Abuja where it can be paid for.

DisGuy:
MrPhysics

Building Nuclear Plants wont solve the distribution issues, our main problem is transmitting and distributing the power we actually generate

Secondly considering many countries are doing away with their nuclear options for newer more efficient ones..why should be prioritize nuclear?

1. How many do we generate that distribution is the problem? To me, distribution is a minor problem. The biggest problem of distribution is that all generated electricity is sent to a central collection point before being distributed back to different parts of the country (Except Abuja). Imagine transmitting all electricity to (forgotten the name of the city), before retransmitting back to other areas. This leads to grid collapse and loss of electricity. Also many countries even developed countries lose energy due to heat in transmission.
The major point is that we don't even generate enough. Imagine a country of 200m people using 4000MWe.

2. @emboldened, it's not many countries, just few if not one - Germany. However a lot of countries are building more, even Iran has one and still manage it. Turkey is building, South Africa (already overtaking us), China, etc.

Update

On this thread and on one of the pages of this thread, someone mentioned something about a group/association called Friends of Nigeria (FON) here in France. Somehow somehow, I was added to the group and someone promised something tomorrow.

So tomorrow, Sunday 26th January, FC Nantes will host Bodeaux. The two teams has 3 super eagles players that will be playing tomorrow. Moses Simon of Nantes vs Samuel Kalu and Josh Maja of Bordeaux. Someone from FON, a sport journalist has offered us a ticket to the match and a time with the three super eagles players. So tomorrow by God's grace, we will be meeting with Moses Simon and Samuel Kalu. This will be my first time watching live match and perhaps the first time going out in a while.

So expect some pictures tomorrow guys.

Hadampson:
Boss, thanks for the mention

Mrphysics, good to have you back
I'm glued to my seat, waiting for your updates

Welcome boss.

I will do my best to update the thread regularly at least now that I am little bit free.