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Division Spotlight
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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A series of firsts delivers new Plant Vogtle units
Southern Nuclear was first when no one wanted to be.
The nuclear subsidiary of the century-old utility Southern Company, based in Atlanta, Ga., joined a pack of nuclear companies in the early 2000s—during what was then dubbed a “nuclear renaissance”—bullish on plans for new large nuclear facilities and adding thousands of new carbon-free megawatts to the grid.
In 2008, Southern Nuclear applied for a combined construction and operating license (COL), positioning the company to receive the first such license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2012. Also in 2008, Southern became the first U.S. company to sign an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for a Generation III+ reactor. Southern chose Westinghouse’s AP1000 pressurized water reactor, which was certified by the NRC in December 2011.
Fast forward a dozen years—which saw dozens of setbacks and hundreds of successes—and Southern Nuclear and its stakeholders celebrated the completion of Vogtle Units 3 and 4: the first new commercial nuclear power construction project completed in the U.S. in more than 30 years.
Dr. Alan Waltar was the 40th president of the American Nuclear Society. He joined the ANS in 1967, at the same time he became a member of the Fuel Cycle & Waste Management and Operations and Power Divisions. He has chaired numerous committees at the Society, as well as several ANS Topical Meetings. In 1984, he was elected an ANS Fellow, the highest grade of membership offered by the Society.
Recently he retired as Senior Advisor and Director of Nuclear Energy for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. He was previously Professor and Head of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University. His earlier career included numerous managerial assignments with Westinghouse Hanford Company—mostly dealing with fuels and materials research and fast reactor safety. He served one year on the faculty of nuclear engineering at the University of Virginia.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington, a Master’s Degree in nuclear engineering from MIT and a Ph.D. in engineering science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Waltar helped found the World Nuclear University Summer Institute and has served as mentor, lecturer, and MC for all Summer Institutes, commencing in Idaho Falls (2005) and subsequently held in Stockholm, South Korea, Ottawa, Oxford University for six years, and Uppsala, Sweden in 2015. He also served as mentor, lecturer, and MC for the three World University Radiation Schools (twice in South Korea and in Qatar in 2014). He led a People-to-People Ambassadors Nuclear Delegation to China in 2007 and India in 2009.
He has consulted for numerous IAEA functions, the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Council, the Department of Energy, and several private nuclear firms. He was recently inducted into the Washington State Academy of Sciences.
He has many publications, and over 75 open literature scientific publications. “Radiation and Modern Life: Fulfilling Marie Curie’s Dream” was one of his books published.
Read Nuclear News from July 1994 for more on Alan.
Last modified October 17, 2018, 3:01pm CDT
