About ANS
- ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
About Nuclear
- Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
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- Division Spotlight
  Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
  The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
Events
- Meeting Spotlight
  ANS Student Conference 2025
  April 3–5, 2025
  Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
Standards
- 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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  Apr 2025
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  May 2025
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  April 2025
  Fusion Science and Technology
  April 2025
- Latest News
  General Kenneth Nichols and the Manhattan Project
  Nichols
  The Oak Ridger has published the latest in a series of articles about General Kenneth D. Nichols, the Manhattan Project, and the 1954 Atomic Energy Act. The series has been produced by Nichols’ grandniece Barbara Rogers Scollin and Oak Ridge (Tenn.) city historian David Ray Smith. Gen. Nichols (1907–2000) was the district engineer for the Manhattan Engineer District during the Manhattan Project.
  As Smith and Scollin explain, Nichols “had supervision of the research and development connected with, and the design, construction, and operation of, all plants required to produce plutonium-239 and uranium-235, including the construction of the towns of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Richland, Washington. The responsibility of his position was massive as he oversaw a workforce of both military and civilian personnel of approximately 125,000; his Oak Ridge office became the center of the wartime atomic energy’s activities.”
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Decommissioning Environmental Science and Remote Technology 2021 Speaker

Patricia K. Holahan

Director, Division of Decommissioning,
Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs,

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Since October 2021, Dr. Holahan has served as a Special Assistant in the Division of Rulemaking, Environmental and Financial Support. Prior to that she was the Director of the Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery and Waste Programs in the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards where she led the management of the NRC's program for the regulation of Decommissioning, Low-Level Waste (LLW), and Uranium Recovery functional areas in close coordination with other Federal agencies, States, and Native American Tribal Governments, licensees, and the public. From October 2017 to August 2019, she was the Director of Rulemaking where she led the NRC’s core function of rulemaking for the reactor and materials programs. From October 2014 to October 2017, Dr. Holahan served as the Director of the Office of Enforcement. She has been with NRC since 1991 and has held a variety of staff and management positions in NMSS, the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, and and also served as a Technical Assistant to former Chairman Meserve.

Before joining NRC, Dr. Holahan worked as a Consultant Radiation Biologist and an Assistant Professor for the University of Texas’ Health Science Center, in San Antonio. She received her Ph.D. in Radiation Biology from Colorado State University. She earned a Bachelor of Science (Honours) and Master’s Degree in Biophysics from the University of Western Ontario.

Last modified November 10, 2021, 3:54pm EST