ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
2022 ANS Annual Meeting
Nuclear Engineering Ph.D. Candidate
University of Tennessee
Alyssa Hayes (she/her) is a Nuclear Engineering Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Tennessee, where she is researching impurity transport in the plasma boundary of fusion reactors. She is a member of the Fusion Energy Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she takes advantage of high-performance computing resources to simulate wall erosion and impurity migration.
She is now a leader of the Computational Research Access Network (CRANE), a national student-led workshop series that teaches computational skills to students from underrepresented groups in plasma physics and nuclear engineering.
Her advocacy efforts began in 2016 when she joined forces with other nuclear advocates to help save the Clinton and Quad Cities NPPs. She testified in 2021 before Illinois Congressmembers to help save Byron and Dresden, and again in 2022 in a push to lift the Illinois moratorium on new nuclear construction.
Alyssa earned her B.S. in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering from the University of Illinois in 2019. She continues to be an active member of ANS, WIN, CRANE, and Generation Atomic, and she aspires to become an ANS Congressional Fellow in the future.
Last modified April 14, 2022, 5:50am PDT
