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
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2025
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
U.S. Senate confirms Chris Wright as energy secretary
Wright
The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed Chris Wright, President Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Energy. The confirmation vote was 59–38. Eight Democrats, including both senators from Colorado, signing off on Wright.
Wright—a Colorado native—is founder, chief executive, and chair of the board of Liberty Energy, a Denver-based energy development company specializing in fracking. He also sits on the board of directors for Oklo, a Silicon Valley–based developer of small modular reactors.
Wright was grilled by the Senate’s committee on Energy and Natural Resources during a January 15 hearing, where he made comments in support of nuclear energy and efforts to expand domestic generation in the near future.
He also repeated an earlier stated belief that “there’s no such thing as clean energy or dirty energy.” Wright was called out during the hearing by Senate Democrats for comments he made arguing that climate change has not fueled more frequent and severe wildfires, which, the Washington Post reported, is a claim at odds with the scientific consensus.
20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-20)
David E. Holcomb is currently the molten salt reactor (MSR) technology lead for Idaho National Laboratory and a Battelle distinguished inventor. Dr. Holcomb serves as vice-chair and risk and safety lead of the Generation IV International Forum’s MSR provisional system steering committee, chairs the American Nuclear Society’s working group developing a design safety standard for liquid fueled MSRs (ANS 20.2), and serves as a senior technical advisor to the US-DOE MSR campaign. Dr. Holcomb recently retired from the technical staff of Oak Ridge National Laboratory with 30 years of service. He has previously served as the DOE national technical area lead for MSRs and for instrumentation and controls (I&C) for advanced reactors.
Dr. Holcomb has provided support to the US NRC in a variety of MSR areas including fuel salt qualification and topics beyond guidance documents as well as developing an MSR training course for NRC staff. Dr. Holcomb lead the team applying the phenomenon identification and ranking table (PIRT) methodology to MSRs and the team evaluating potential MSR initiating events.
Dr. Holcomb has served as adjunct faculty at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the Nuclear Engineering Department since 1995 and is a current member of the nuclear engineering program advisory board for the Ohio State University. He is a member ANS and is a past chair of the Human Factors, Instrumentation, and Controls Division. Dr. Holcomb has served multiple times as the general and technical chair of the annual ORNL-GAIN MSR workshops.
Last modified March 27, 2023, 4:03pm EDT
