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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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.
Harold Ray joined the American Nuclear Society in 1987. Ray became the 48th president of the Society in 2002. He is a member of theDecommissioning and Environmental Services and the Operations and Power Divisions.
Harold graduated from the UCLA College of Engineering in 1963 and entered the U.S. Navy, serving in the early stages of the Vietnam War. In 1964 he joined the Naval Reactors staff of Admiral Hyman Rickover and spent most of the following 5 years in the development of the new, two-reactor design for the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. This included earning a reactor engineering certificate from the Bettis Reactor Engineering School. In 1969 he left Naval Reactors and began a graduate engineering program at California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) supported by an Oak Ridge National Laboratory fellowship.
Having received his Master’s Degree from Cal Tech, he was recruited in 1970 by Southern California Edison (SCE) to lead the (then) AEC licensing effort in support of the construction of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Units 2 & 3 (SONGS 2 & 3). At that time, he became a Registered Professional Engineer in California (Mechanical and Nuclear). During the following 35 years at SCE, he served as SONGS 2&3 project manager and site Vice President, including operation and eventual closure of SONGS 1, obtained an MA in management from Claremont Graduate University, and became the longest serving Chief Nuclear Officer in the industry. He served as SCE Executive Vice President responsible for all generation, transmission and wholesale power transactions. This last period included the restructuring of electricity markets in California in the late 1990’s. He retired from SCE at the end of 2005 and began executive-level consulting for electric utilities.
In 2008, Harold began service as a member of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), USNRC. This service continues to the present. As for all members of the ACRS, this service includes involvement in all ACRS activities, but his principal, long-term responsibility has been to chair the AP1000 subcommittee which supported the current design certification and combined operating licenses approved to date.
Read Nuclear News from July 2002 for more on Harold.
Last modified October 19, 2018, 1:39pm CDT
