U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Chairman Gregory Jaczko announced today that he would resign his position as soon as a successor is confirmed. Jaczko has served on the 5-member commission since January 2005 and was named chairman in May 2009. His current term as commissioner was set to expire in June 2013.

The May issue of Nuclear News magazine is available in hard copy and electronically for American Nuclear Society members (must enter ANS user name and password in Member Center).  The issue contains the following feature articles:

Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park is a carnival of terrestrial energy

The Carnival is the collective voice of blogs with legendary names which emerge each week to tell the story of nuclear energy.

This week's Nuclear Matinee takes a nostalgic look back to the dawn of the Atomic Age and an exciting new power source: "atomic energy."

The nation continues to chart an independent course

In recent days, a number of articles have been printed that assert that a grave danger exists at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear generating station. These articles claim that this danger exists due to the condition of the spent nuclear fuel at the site and the supposedly shaky condition of its storage and care. Two examples:

The American Nuclear Society today issued the following statement:

ANSI strongly encourages all U.S. delegates to participate in international standardization meetings

The Carnival is up at Atomic Power Review.

Today's matinee is a foreign film feature: an excellent overview of the very basics of nuclear energy.

The Carnival is up at Yes Vermont Yankee.

Decades of nuclear science in just two minutes! This dramatic video takes the viewer inside the world of atomic particles, describing a rather important difference between the encounters of alpha particles and neutrons when scientists direct them at heavy atomic nuclei. The scientist referred to in the video is Leo Szilard, who conceived the possibility of a nuclear "chain reaction" among many other important scientific achievements. This nuclear chain reaction is quite a ride- so enjoy!

The month of May is knocking on the door, but don't forget to turn to your April issue of Nuclear News magazine for the latest in outage management news. The April issue, which is available in hard copy and electronically for American Nuclear Society members (must enter ANS user name and password in Member Center), contains the following articles on outage management:

The Carnival is up at Next Big Future.

The 4^th annual Texas Atomic Film Festival (TAFF) is being held April 26 to May 3, 2012. The festival attracts short films (3 to 5 minutes) produced by students in nuclear engineering courses at the University of Texas at Austin. A public screening of the films, which focus on nuclear and energy related topics, is being held on April 26 at 12:30 pm at the UT Student Activities Center auditorium.

This evening there will be a debate on a nuclear referendum that is on the town ballot in Plymouth, Mass. The referendum calls for a halt to relicensing the Pilgrim nuclear power plant, pending implementation of Fukushima lessons learned.

India is fast emerging as a leading world power in nuclear science and technology. In this video interview, American Nuclear Society President Eric Loewen discusses the recent delegation he led to help foster U.S.-India nuclear cooperation to benefit both countries.

The American Nuclear Society will be participating this weekend in the largest celebration of science in the United States: the 2nd annual USA Science & Engineering Festival.  The finale Expo of the festival will be Saturday and Sunday, April 28-29, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC.

The Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers enters its second century this week.  If you missed it, the 100th Carnival was published last week at Atomic Power Review which is maintained by Will Davis.  It includes messages of congratulations from the American Nuclear Society and the Nuclear Energy Institute. This recognition shows that social media is here to stay as a communication tool in the nuclear energy industry.