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
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
Mar 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Will policies outlined in Project 2025 affect nuclear much?
James Conca
I think so. The near future for nuclear depends on both the cabinet picks for Energy, Defense, Interior, and Commerce, and how well the new secretaries stick to the Project 2025 plan, the Heritage Foundation’s conservative blueprint for the future.
Those who want to read the entire 900-page Mandate for Leadership can find it easily online. The section relating to nuclear power and waste begins on page 363: “Department of Energy and Related Commissions,” by Bernard L. McNamee. The nuclear weapons–related portions are scattered throughout.
It is obvious from the beginning of the chapter that McNamee doesn’t really understand the Department of Energy. He can be forgiven, since most people don’t. For the several months following their appointments, new energy secretaries generally fail to understand what the DOE does—except for real nuclear folks like Ernest Moniz, who held the position from 2013 to 2017. Most think that the DOE is all about energy, when really it is mostly about weapons and waste.
2020 ANS Virtual Winter Meeting Plenary Session Speaker
Alice Caponiti serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Reactor Fleet and Advanced Reactor Deployment in the Office of Nuclear Energy. She leads a diverse portfolio of research, development and demonstration programs focused on the technical and economic sustainability of the existing U.S. fleet of commercial reactors and the development and deployment of innovative advanced reactors, including small modular reactors and microreactors. Ms. Caponiti is managing a new cost-shared program with industry to demonstrate multiple advanced reactor designs that offer improved safety, functionality and affordability, leading to expanded market opportunities for clean energy. Her office also sustains the nuclear talent pipeline through competitive university R&D and infrastructure investment programs. Ms. Caponiti serves on the Generation IV International Forum Policy Group that advises on research and development needed to establish the feasibility and performance capabilities of the next generation nuclear energy systems.
Ms. Caponiti previously led efforts to design, build, test, and deliver safe and reliable nuclear power systems for space exploration and national security applications and conduct detailed safety analyses for each mission. She served as the as the technical advisor to the Department of State and a United Nations working group on space nuclear power sources, as well as a risk communications spokesperson for the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Mars Science Laboratory mission that delivered the Curiosity rover to the surface of Mars. Prior to joining the Office of Nuclear Energy in 2001, Ms. Caponiti worked on a nonproliferation program to reduce stockpiles of excess Russian weapons plutonium.
Ms. Caponiti has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Maryland and master degrees in nuclear engineering and the Technology and Policy Program from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Last modified October 22, 2020, 3:15pm EDT
