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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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Latest News
Empowering the next generation: ANS’s newest book focuses on careers in nuclear energy
A new career guide for the nuclear energy industry is now available: The Nuclear Empowered Workforce by Earnestine Johnson. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience across 16 nuclear facilities, Johnson offers a practical, insightful look into some of the many career paths available in commercial nuclear power. To mark the release, Johnson sat down with Nuclear News for a wide-ranging conversation about her career, her motivation for writing the book, and her advice for the next generation of nuclear professionals.
When Johnson began her career at engineering services company Stone & Webster, she entered a field still reeling from the effects of the Three Mile Island incident in 1979, nearly 15 years earlier. Her hiring cohort was the first group of new engineering graduates the company had brought on since TMI, a reflection of the industry-wide pause in nuclear construction. Her first long-term assignment—at the Millstone site in Waterford, Conn., helping resolve design issues stemming from TMI—marked the beginning of a long and varied career that spanned positions across the country.
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
Jean-Luc Palayer is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Orano USA, Orano’s operations in the United States providing commercial and federal customers with global expertise in nuclear materials management. Jean-Luc is also serving as the interim President of TN Americas, an Orano USA subsidiary.
He oversees all five of Orano's business units in the United States, including MCES for sales of uranium fuel, conversion, and enrichment services; Orano Decommissioning Services for dismantling nuclear facilities; TN Americas offering the full breadth of used nuclear fuel management (pool to pad, storage, transportation, and ISFSI management); Orano Med for the development of medical isotopes for targeted immunotherapy for fighting cancer; and Orano Federal Services supporting the development of advanced reactors and offering the full complement of engineering and technology to solve some of the more complex nuclear material processing, conditioning, and packaging for the U.S. Department of Energy.
With more than 20 years in the nuclear industry, Jean-Luc’s international leadership experience includes nuclear materials transportation and storage, front-end material production and deliveries, supply chain optimization, and industrial project development in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
He began his career in 1999 with COGEMA (now part of Orano). In 2007, Jean-Luc was named Director of Business Analysis for AREVA Enrichment Services. In 2012, he served as Managing Director of AREVA Solar India and Vice-President of Operations for AREVA Solar Inc with the responsibility to lead construction projects in the United States and India. In 2015, he joined TN Americas (Orano TN) as Vice-President of Global Supply Chain and then as Chief Operating Officer, leading the project management organization, the nuclear manufacturing plants, and the field service business line.
Jean-Luc holds a Master of Engineering degree from École des Mines and an Executive MBA from Georgetown University.
Last modified June 26, 2024, 4:19pm EDT