ANS is set to host a virtual event titled “Turbulence Modeling and Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes,” the first in a new four-part lecture series on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) presented by the Society. The webinar runs from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, May 25, and is open to ANS members only. Advance registration is required.
ANS will host its first fully in-person national meeting since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when the 2022 ANS Annual Meeting takes place in Anaheim, Calif., June 12-16.
In anticipation of the event, ANS is putting on a webinar titled ”Annual Meeting Preview: Getting back to what we do best.” This hourlong sneak peek is on May 24 at 2:00 p.m. (EDT) and is free and open to everyone. The program will feature organizers who have been planning the many technical sessions for ANS Annual as well as the three embedded topical meetings:
Earlier this month, the ANS Board of Directors approved the creation of two new student sections—Reed College in Portland, Ore., and Boise State University in Boise, Idaho.
ANS’s student sections represent the next generation of nuclear—they are critical to the Society’s goal of aiding the next generation in their pursuit of advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies for the benefit of humankind. Student sections provide students with the knowledge, tools, and opportunities required to achieve success in or out of the nuclear field.
The deadline for applications to the ANS's Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship has been extended. All ANS members are invited to apply to help the Society fulfill its strategic goal of informing nuclear public policy.
All applications and supporting documents are now due by 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Monday, May 23.
ANS has recently published a new standard:
ANSI/ANS-2.21-2022, Criteria for Assessing Atmospheric Effects on the Ultimate Heat Sink (revision of ANSI/ANS-2.21-2012 [R2016]).
The standard is available for purchase from the ANS Store.
Piercy at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
When Michigan State University’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) officially opened with a ribbon-cutting event on May 2, ANS Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer Craig Piercy was there to celebrate the result of many years of hard work.
“Big congratulations to MSU for bringing this project to fruition on time and on budget,” Piercy said. “FRIB will allow scientists to probe the origins of stars and the fundamental structure of matter and explore new life-saving medical treatments.”
Piercy worked closely with MSU’s FRIB team for several years before and after the university was selected over Argonne National Laboratory to host the facility, and he has seen the project come full circle. He was present at both the groundbreaking in 2014 and the ribbon-cutting ceremony in May.
Huff
The Senate has confirmed ANS member Kathryn Huff as the next assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) in the Department of Energy. The bipartisan vote, held earlier this afternoon, was 80–11.
President Biden selected Huff in January to fill the top spot at NE—a post that has been vacant since Rita Baranwal (also an ANS member) announced she was leaving the position on January 8, 2021.
Huff came to the DOE in May of last year to serve as principal deputy assistant secretary for nuclear energy, going on unpaid leave from her position as an associate professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, where she led the Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles Research Group.
Petersen
The results of the 2022 ANS national election are in. The next vice president/president-elect will be Kenneth Petersen, recently retired from Constellation (formerly Exelon Generation). In addition, five new members were elected to the Board of Directors, and 12 proposed changes to the ANS bylaws and rules were approved.
Petersen will succeed current ANS vice president/president-elect Steven Arndt, who will assume the office of president following the upcoming ANS Annual Meeting. The current president, Steven Nesbit, will remain on the board for a one-year term as immediate past president.
“I am honored that the ANS members elected me as their next vice president/president-elect at this exciting time for nuclear technology," Petersen said. "The nuclear community is at a point where the full potential of nuclear technology can be realized. Nuclear is being recognized for its clean air and zero-carbon, baseload power attributes, while SMRs and advanced reactors are gearing up for deployment.”
The American Nuclear Society and the Health Physics Society are collaborating to combat misinformation on radiation and nuclear science. As part of this effort, ANS’s Rapid Response Taskforce and HPS’s “Ask the Experts” have partnered to monitor the radiological and nuclear situation in war-besieged Ukraine and are available to answer media inquiries.
ANS is hosting a webinar titled “Budgeting for the Future of Nuclear” on Wednesday, April 27, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. (EDT). Representatives from the Department of Energy will discuss the president’s fiscal year 2023 budget request.
Register Now. The webinar is for ANS members only.
The ANS Reactor Physics Division is hosting a webinar titled “A Reactor Physicist’s Explanation of Chernobyl” from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, April 26, the 36th anniversary of the accident at the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
Register Now. The webinar is exclusively for ANS members.
Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS-2022) will be held May 8–12 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Register now. ANS members are encouraged to register for the conference and reserve their hotel rooms as soon as possible.
The ANS Education, Training and Workforce Development Division hosted a webinar titled “Securing a Strong Workforce for the Next Generation of Reactors” on March 16. The webinar covered actions being taken to prepare the future nuclear workforce for the construction and operation of next-generation reactors in the late 2020s and early 2030s.
The 2022 ANS election ballot, which was sent to ANS members via email on February 22, includes several proposed amendments to the Society’s bylaws and rules.
Following the adoption of ANS Change Plan 2020, the Bylaws and Rules Committee took on the task of reviewing each section of the Society’s bylaws and rules to ensure compliance with the plan.
A working group of the Bylaws and Rules Committee, composed of Don Lorentz, Melissa Hunter, Peter Caracappa, and Hans Gougar, worked with the chairs of the ANS committees and with ANS staff to review the bylaws and revise them to meet the intent of the Change Plan. Gougar presented the proposed amendments to the Board of Directors at the 2021 ANS Winter Meeting, and the Board approved the proposed changes to be voted on by the wider membership in January 2022.
The 2022 ANS election is now underway. Ballots were sent to ANS members via email on February 22, with a unique access link and access key from the third-party election services firm ElectionBuddy. Ballots must be submitted by 1 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, April 12.
The United States must ramp up the domestic production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), the panelists agreed during a March 11 members-only webinar held amid heightened concerns about energy security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the day after Congress approved $45 million for the HALEU Availability Program for fiscal year 2022.
John Starkey, ANS director of public policy, moderated the webinar, which featured panelists Scott Kopple, senior director of government relations at BWX Technologies; Everett Redmond, senior technical advisor at the Nuclear Energy Institute; Benjamin Reinke, senior director of corporate strategy and advisor to the CEO at X-energy; Patrick White, project manager at the Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA); and Brad Williams, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee staff.
The ANS Education, Training and Workforce Development Division is hosting a webinar titled “Securing a Strong Workforce for the Next Generation of Reactors,” to be held on Wednesday, March 16, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (EDT).
Register now. The webinar is complimentary and open to all.
ANS is hosting an expert panel for the members-only virtual event, “High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium: Fueling Nuclear Energy’s Future,” on Friday, March 11, from 10 to 11 a.m. (EST).
Register now for the event. Can't attend live? Register to receive a link to the recording.
The 2022 ANS election is open. This is your chance to help shape the future of your Society.
All ANS members were sent an email on February 22 with a unique access link and access key from third-party election services firm ElectionBuddy.
The spotlight shines on Virginia Commonwealth University during a virtual event taking place tomorrow, March 3, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. EST. The ANS Young Members Group is hosting the event.
Register now for the event.