ANS News

One of the privileges of being president of the American Nuclear Society is awarding Presidential Citations to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort in some manner for the benefit of ANS or the nuclear community at large. Citations are conferred twice each year, at the Annual and Winter Meetings.

ANS President Hash Hashemian has named this season’s recipients, who will receive recognition at the upcoming 2025 Winter Conference & Expo in Washington, D.C.

The American Nuclear Society's Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy recently sat down with Richard Morrison on an episode of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Free the Economy podcast.

The American Nuclear Society recently announced the designation of three new nuclear historic landmarks: the Hot Fuel Examination Facility, the Neely Nuclear Research Center, and the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant K-25. Today’s article, the final offering in a three-part series, will focus on the historical significance of the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant K-25.

The American Nuclear Society’s Risk-informed, Performance-based Principles and Policy Committee (RP3C) has held another presentation in its monthly Community of Practice (CoP) series. Former RP3C chair N. Prasad Kadambi opened the October 3 meeting with brief introductory remarks about the RP3C and the need for new approaches to nuclear design that go beyond conventional and deterministic methods. He then welcomed this month’s speakers: Mike Mankosa, a project engineer at FPoliSolutions, and Cesare Frepoli, the company’s president, who together presented “Introduction to RISE: A Digital Framework for Maintaining a Risk-Informed Safety Case for Current and Next Generation Nuclear Power Plants.”

Watch the full webinar here.

The American Nuclear Society recently hosted a Supplier Showcase webinar, “Reducing Cumulative Radiological Exposure with Advanced Source Term Removal Technologies,” featuring Chuck Marks, president of Dominion Engineering, a consulting, equipment, and services company focused on improving nuclear power plant performance, efficiency, and reliability.

The American Nuclear Society recently announced the designation of three new nuclear historic landmarks: the Hot Fuel Examination Facility, the Neely Nuclear Research Center, and the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Today’s article, the second in a three-part series, will focus on the historical significance of the Neely Nuclear Research Center.

The American Nuclear Society recently hosted a webinar, “Securing the Isotope Supply Chain: A Growing Global Challenge,” featuring experts from a variety of private and public institutions who discussed the current state of the isotope supply chain, the necessity for strengthening that chain, and the tools available to develop a more robust system.

To watch the full webinar, click here.

With the months rolling by, the time is coming for the American Nuclear Society to hold its second annual conference of the year. The 2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo, with a theme of “Building the Nuclear Century,” will take place November 9–12 in Washington, D.C., at the Washington Hilton.

The American Nuclear Society is hosting a new Supplier Showcase webinar, “Reducing Cumulative Radiological Exposure with Advanced Source Term Removal Technologies,” on October 15 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (EDT) on recent advancements in decontamination technology.

The webinar is free for all viewers and requires registration.

One constant at the American Nuclear Society’s national meetings is the recognition of exceptional individuals in the nuclear community. ANS President Hash Hashemian has named this season’s national award recipients. These awards will be presented next month at the upcoming Winter Conference and Expo in Washington, D.C. The recipients of awards from the Society’s professional divisions, alongside Presidential Citations and the Nuclear Historic Landmark Award, will be announced soon.

The American Nuclear Society’s Risk-informed, Performance-based Principles and Policy Committee (RP3C) has held another presentation in its monthly Community of Practice (CoP) series. Former RP3C chair N. Prasad Kadambi opened the meeting with brief introductory remarks about the RP3C and the need for new approaches to nuclear design that go beyond conventional and deterministic methods. He then welcomed this month’s speaker: Doug Gerstner, a nuclear safety engineer at Idaho National Laboratory, who presented “Application of a Qualitative RIPB Approach for the MARVEL Microreactor at INL.”

Watch the full webinar here.

The American Nuclear Society’s ANS Cares Committee recently hosted a webinar examining and exploring ways to overcome the common cost barriers to pursuing a nuclear education.

It soon will be time for the American Nuclear Society to hold its second annual conference of the year. The 2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo will take place November 9–12 in Washington, D.C., at the Washington Hilton.

Click here to register for the meeting and be sure to do so before October 17 to take advantage of early-bird pricing.

With President Trump on a state visit to the U.K., in part to sign a landmark new agreement on U.S.-U.K. nuclear collaboration, a flurry of transatlantic partnerships and deals bridging the countries’ nuclear sectors have been announced.

The American Nuclear Society is taking an active role in this bridge-building by forming a reciprocal membership agreement with the U.K.’s Nuclear Institute.

It’s almost been a full year since the American Nuclear Society held its inaugural section of Nuclear 101, a comprehensive certificate course on the basics of the nuclear field. Offered at the 2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo, that first sold-out course marked a massive milestone in the Society’s expanding work in professional development and certification.

Following official confirmation in June at the American Nuclear Society’s 2025 Annual Conference, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln has kicked off its first year as the newest ANS student section.

The sold-out inaugural Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX) got off to a roaring start in Atlanta, Ga., Tuesday morning with an opening plenary that included a highlight reel of the latest industry achievements.

The lively promo video left the audience amped up for Entergy CEO and NEI chair Drew Marsh, who welcomed everyone to the event, which is being hosted jointly by the American Nuclear Society and the Nuclear Energy Institute. He spoke to a full house of more than 1,300 attendees, promising a blend of science, technology, policy, and advocacy centered around the future of nuclear energy.

ANSI/ANS-54.8-2025, Liquid Metal Fire Protection in LMR Plants, received approval from the American National Standards Institute on September 2 and is now available for purchase.

The 2025 edition is a reinvigoration of the withdrawn ANS-54.8-1988 of the same title. The Advanced Reactor Codes and Standards Collaborative (ARCSC) identified the need for a current version of the standard via an industry survey.

Typical liquid metal reactor designs use liquid sodium as the coolant for both the primary and intermediate heat-transport systems. In addition, liquid sodium and NaK (a mixture of sodium and potassium that is liquid at room temperature) are often used in auxiliary heat-removal systems. Since these liquid metals can react readily with oxygen, water, and other compounds, special precautions must be taken in the design, construction, testing, and maintenance of the sodium/NaK systems to ensure that the potential for leakage is very small.

The American Nuclear Society’s Risk-informed, Performance-based Principles and Policy Committee (RP3C) has held another presentation in its monthly Community of Practice (CoP) series. Former RP3C chair N. Prasad Kadambi opened the meeting with brief introductory remarks about the RP3C and the need for new approaches to nuclear design that go beyond conventional and deterministic methods. He then welcomed this month’s speaker: Kent Welter, a member of the ANS Standards Board and chief engineer of testing and analysis at NuScale, who presented “RIPB Design and Licensing of the NuScale US460 Small Modular Reactor.”

Watch the full webinar here.

The next opportunity to earn professional engineer (P.E.) licensure in nuclear engineering is this fall. Sign up now to enhance your studying with the help of the online module program from the American Nuclear Society.