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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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!
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“Life is a roller coaster. It’s best ridden with your hands in the air.”
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
I find myself saying the expression above a lot these days—to my kids, my wife, my friends, and colleagues. Most recently, I said it to the person sitting next to me after the pilot of our plane—bound for Reagan National Airport a day after the collision of AA flight 5342 and a military Blackhawk helicopter—aborted the landing at the last minute.
I am not sure where I picked up this pronouncement, but I find it to be apropos to the topsy-turvy moment where we find ourselves in 2025. In addition to the first U.S. commercial airline crash in 15 years, we are witnessing a new presidential administration in its infancy playing by the Silicon Valley rules of “move fast, break things.” We’ve seen DeepSeek, the low-cost Chinese AI that reportedly uses 50–75 percent less energy than its NVIDIA-powered counterparts, tank Constellation’s market value by more than 20 percent in one late-January trading day.
Technical Session|Panel|Sponsored by NISD
Wednesday, November 18, 2020|2:40–4:20PM EST
Session Chair:
N. Prasad Kadambi
Alternate Chair:
Robert W. Youngblood
Session Organizer:
Andrew J. Clark
Staff Producer:
Julie Bry (American Nuclear Society)
RIPB ideas are widely accepted in principle, but have so far realized only part of their full potential. In the operating fleet, licensing processes were originally developed based on Design Basis Accident considerations; RIPB ideas have been applied only perturbatively, generally in order to justify license modifications or enforcement decisions. Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is finding increased use as a way to consider nuclear reactor design, construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning in a continuum of processes rather than compartmentalized activities. This should enable better use of RIPB methods for more useful consensus standards. The ANS has been making progress within the Standards Committee to improve standards development using some aspects of this approach. The panel discussion will consider application of RIPB approaches in other domains, its nexus with Model-Based Systems Engineering, and how best to reflect RIPB principles in consensus standards.
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