ANS News

ANS is celebrating Actinide Days by giving some exceptional radioisotopes the credit they deserve on social media, and today it’s double the fun, with both plutonium-238 and uranium-238 getting a turn in the spotlight. While the actinides may be buried in the bottom row of the periodic table, isotopes of these elements are hard at work in applications in medicine, industry, power, and space. Visit ANS on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to join the conversation and speak up for your favorite actinides.

There are reasons that individual researchers might seek to update their name on previously published work, including marriage or divorce, gender transition, or a change in religious affiliation. Having a former name listed on journal articles can cause significant problems for researchers applying for a new position or grant, effectively disclosing a personal event and potentially subjecting the individual to discrimination.

ANS has published the second volume of Light Water Reactor Materials, by Donald R. Olander and Arthur T. Motta. The textbook is for upper-division undergraduate and graduate students, as well as for researchers in the field. Volume II, Applications, complements the first volume, Fundamentals, published in 2017.

Motta is a professor and graduate program chair in the Nuclear Engineering Department at Pennsylvania State University. Olander passed away in April of this year. (See a remembrance of Olander written by Motta in Nuclear News, July 2021, p. 117.) Olander's career spanned nearly 50 years at the University of California–Berkeley, where he mentored an entire generation of nuclear materials engineers—including Motta. Following his retirement in 2007, Olander and his former doctoral student—Motta—coauthored Light Water Reactor Materials.

The 11th installment of the ANS Young Members Group Spotlight on National Labs will feature the Nevada National Security Site. The webinar, moderated by ANS YMG member Kelsey Amundson, will be held this Thursday, August 26, noon - 1:30 pm EDT. The event is free and open to all, so please register now.

Marzano.

The American Nuclear Society has selected Matthew Marzano to serve as the 2022 Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow.

“Matt is in a unique position to provide significant technical assistance to the U.S. Congress on nuclear energy, particularly now as there are important discussions that will shape the future of U.S. energy policy,” said Harsh S. Desai, chair of the ANS Congressional Fellowship Committee and a former congressional fellow himself.

“Members of Congress and their staff will greatly benefit from Matt’s depth of experience in commercial and defense nuclear power plant operations,” Desai said. “The fellowship will also be an opportunity for Matt to develop his policy expertise and learn ‘how the sausage is made.’”

Steven P. Nesbit

Stories are unfolding (or have unfolded) in three of our key states that illustrate the challenges facing the backbone of our country’s clean, reliable electricity generation infrastructure. I write, of course, about existing nuclear power plants. On the East Coast, New York is a done deal. Indian Point-3 shut down on April 30. The state authorities are banking on offshore wind to pick up the slack. They shrug off the cost and intermittency challenges associated with deploying wind power. We’ll see.

The American Nuclear Society recently revised Position Statement #18: Transportation of Radioactive Materials and Position Statement #83: Assuring U.S. Global Nuclear Leadership. Both were posted on the ANS website in July after being approved by the Board of Directors.

The newly created Spanish Communications Subcommittee (SCS) of the ANS Diversity and Inclusion Committee needs translators, transcribers, and original content developers. Already the group has attracted interested members from all over the world, including Argentina, Spain, Chile, Mexico, and the United States.

The original story published earlier this month did not include Amanda Bachmann, the newly elected student director. ANS News sincerely apologizes for the error.

Four newly elected and three newly appointed members of the ANS Board of Directors began their terms during the 2021 ANS Virtual Annual Meeting. Keep reading to learn more about the new directors.

The next opportunity to earn professional engineer (P.E.) licensure in nuclear engineering is this fall. Now is the time to sign up and begin studying with the help of a new online module program from the American Nuclear Society.

Steven P. Nesbit
president@ans.org

It’s like clockwork. In June of every year, the American Nuclear Society brings in a new elected leader for the next 12 months. I’m Steve Nesbit, the latest in a line of distinguished (and maybe a few not so distinguished) nuclear professionals who have had the honor and privilege of serving as ANS president.

This is your lucky day. Everything you ever wanted to know about me, but were afraid to ask, is in an article in the July issue of Nuclear News (page 28). Instead of plowing that ground again here, I’ll take advantage of my monthly column to cover a few other topics that are hopefully of value.

In a July 1 letter to President Biden, ANS President Steven Nesbit and ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy stated that a full complement of five commissioners is essential to the effectiveness of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in protecting public health and safety while enabling the deployment and applications of nuclear technology.

The American Nuclear Society sent a letter this morning to the chairman and the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urging them to oppose any amendments to H.R. 3524, the Ensuring American Global Leadership and Engagement Act, that would disallow U.S. cooperation with China in the field of civil nuclear energy.

The bill, introduced on May 25 by the Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D., N.Y.), was scheduled for markup by the committee this afternoon at 1:00 (EDT).

Attend the 2021 ANS Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo, being held August 8–11 in Marco Island, Fla., and hear from some of the leading executives in the nuclear energy field.

Registration details: Register now for the UWC. Sign up by July 15 to save $150. Members save an additional $200. Not a member? Join today.

Each year, ANS leaders are nominated and elected from among the dedicated nuclear technology professionals that make up the Society’s membership.

Now is your chance to nominate candidates to run in the 2022 ANS national election for the office of vice president/president-elect and for six seats on the ANS Board of Directors. All terms will begin in June 2022.

ANS held a panel discussion on Wednesday to look at where the United States energy system is headed in the next 15 years. The webinar, “What will a clean U.S. electric grid look like in 2035?” drew 465 viewers from 25 nations.

A recording of this webinar is archived along with all past ANS webinars on the ANS webinars page.

Join ANS for the panel discussion, What will a clean U.S. electric grid look like in 2035? at 1:30 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday. Register now for the free virtual event.

The American Nuclear Society has joined with Women in Nuclear, the North American Young Generation in Nuclear, and the Nuclear Energy Institute to launch the Innovation for Nuclear in North America (I4N-NA) contest.

For more information, go to the NAYGN website.

As more than 1,500 meeting attendees were partaking in technical sessions during the 2021 ANS Virtual Annual Meeting, the American Nuclear Society launched a new policy engagement initiative aimed at drawing support for a segment of the Biden administration’s FY 2022 budget request. The initiative, kicked off today by an email to ANS members, urged the members to send letters to their congressional representatives asking for support of advanced nuclear research and development funding.