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Candidates have been nominated for the 2024 American Nuclear Society national election. Terms will begin in June 2024, following the Annual Meeting. The six national positions open are vice president/president-elect and five seats on the Board of Directors—four U.S. members at-large and one Young Member. Ballots will be sent electronically on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, and must be submitted by 1:00 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Safford

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced that Carrie M. Safford will be the new secretary of the commission, effective November 5. She is the fifth person in the 48-year history of the NRC to hold the position.

Safford has been serving as deputy director in the Division of Fuel Management, which has regulatory responsibility for nuclear fuel cycle activities in the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

“Carrie has served in a variety of capacities and brings extensive legal and regulatory experience,” said NRC chair Christopher T. Hanson. “Her proven executive leadership and vast knowledge of the agency’s policies and procedures well positions her to keep the Commission’s business functioning smoothly.”

Bill Loeb, a charter member of the American Nuclear Society who was present at ANS’s founding and who served as a naval officer during World War II, passed away this year at the age of 98. Loeb was active in the nuclear workforce after his military service, founding a company that provided food preserved with gamma radiation to the U.S. Army in Vietnam. Loeb maintained his ANS membership and “lived an active, full life,” according to his youngest son, Jonathan.

This summer, the American Nuclear Society supported two student members who participated in the Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE) Program, a nine-week program that gives engineering and technology students the chance to spend a summer learning about public policy. This year’s ANS-sponsored WISE interns, Sarah Cole of Boise State University and Abbey Hageman of the University of Nevada–Reno, arrived in Washington, D.C., in May, where during the course of the program they made professional contacts, researched and presented policy papers (published in the WISE Journal of Engineering and Public Policy), and learned how government officials make decisions on complex technological issues—and how engineers contribute to this process.

The American Nuclear Society is pleased to celebrate Mehdi Sarram on the 60th anniversary of his membership. He joined the Society in 1963 when he was an undergraduate in nuclear engineering at the University of Michigan and has since served the nuclear energy industry as a nuclear engineer, reactor operator, professor, and mentor. Over the years, Sarram has been active in several local ANS sections and has made remarkable contributions to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, including bringing Iran’s first nuclear reactor to full power.

Excitement is building for the 2023 American Nuclear Society Winter Conference and Expo, which will be held November 12–15 in Washington, D.C. The Society has named the recipients of 11 awards that will be presented at that time, as well as six new Fellows, who will be honored during the opening plenary.

Ia Aanstoot, an 18-year-old Swedish climate activist, is gaining a lot of online attention with her “Dear Greenpeace” campaign, asking the global environmental organization to drop its “old-fashioned and unscientific opposition to nuclear power, and join us in the fight against fossil fuels instead!”

As reported by the Guardian, Aanstoot’s stance is that “Greenpeace is stuck in the past fighting clean, carbon-free nuclear energy while the world is literally burning. We need to be using all the tools available to address climate change, and nuclear is one of them.”

Clark

Brooke Poole Clark has been named general counsel of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency announced yesterday. Clark has been serving as secretary of the NRC since April 2022. She will succeed Marian L. Zobler, who will be retiring this fall after 33 years of service. Clark’s appointment is effective October 15.

The job: In her new role, Clark will oversee the Office of the General Counsel, where she will direct matters of law and legal policy; provide legal opinions, advice, and assistance to the agency; monitor adjudicatory proceedings; provide legal interpretations; and represent and protect the interests of the NRC in legal matters.

Quote: “Brooke has 25 years of legal and leadership experience,” said NRC chair Christopher T. Hanson. “Her wealth of expertise on policy and regulatory issues from her experience in both the government and private sector makes her exceptionally qualified for this position. She will play an instrumental role in the challenges ahead.”

“I see nuclear energy as the obvious path forward, and it confuses me as to why everybody else doesn’t. That’s the primary goal with my Miss America policy platform of ‘clean energy, cleaner future.’”

Recently I sat down with Grace Stanke, the current Miss America and a student at the University of Wisconsin in nuclear engineering exploring subjects like nuclear fuel enrichment and reactor performance (as well as being a virtuoso violinist, for good measure).

This year she’s touring the country advocating for clean energy in a cleaner future and for America to reach net zero with the help of nuclear power, while correcting misconceptions and improving communication about nuclear science and encouraging young women to pursue STEM careers.

We talked just after she had finished visiting the Hanford Site while she was on her way to appear at Town Hall Seattle at the request of grassroots pronuclear group Friends of Fission Northwest. I was impressed with the depth of her knowledge and her ability to communicate difficult issues in a concise manner that didn’t require any deep background to understand. I mean, who knows the intricacies of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant? I was tempted to ask her to run for president.

Young members have always been an asset to the American Nuclear Society, attending the Annual and Winter Meetings; joining Society divisions, groups, and student sections; and leading their own events and webinars. ANS would like to highlight some of its young members for their contributions to bringing nuclear energy to the larger world beyond our industry.

The seven new members of the ANS Board of Directors began their terms at the end of the 2023 ANS Annual Meeting. The newest members include the vice president/president-elect, four U.S. members elected to three-year terms, one non-U.S. member of the Board, and a student member. Get to know a little about the new ANS leadership below.

Robert P. Martin and Thomas E. Roberts have been appointed to four-year terms on the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced on July 20.

When Ken Petersen is asked what he sees as the biggest challenges facing nuclear today and in the future, he immediately turns the question around. The 69th president of the American Nuclear Society prefers to focus on the positives of nuclear power instead of dwelling on the biggest challenges facing nuclear’s future prospects. That’s because there’s a lot to celebrate within the nuclear community—especially recently.

Most everything is trending up—from advanced technologies such as SMRs and microreactors to the promise of fusion energy to new ways of creating medical isotopes to progress in space exploration. “There’s huge momentum for nuclear right now,” Petersen said. “We're getting support from the environmentalist community and from legislation. I see it as a huge opportunity for us to continue to grow. It’s an exciting time. And it’s not just the U.S. It’s worldwide, too.”

Kennedy

Environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the 69-year-old son of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, has launched a campaign for the 2024 Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, and he has been voicing his views on a wide range of issues in numerous interviews and podcasts.

Kennedy spoke with tech mogul Elon Musk in one recent online discussion, a roughly two-hour livestreamed event hosted by Musk on the Twitter Spaces platform on June 5 (and later posted on YouTube). Titled “Reclaiming Democracy,” the event, which was moderated by tech investor and Musk’s friend David Sacks, garnered 2.6 million listeners, according to the tally on the recording posted on Kennedy’s Twitter page.

Ezibe

The American Nuclear Society is invested in growing the nuclear community through its K-12 STEM programs like the STEM Academy and Navigating Nuclear. Craig Piercy, ANS Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, noted that when he speaks with engineering and technology students, “Most of them chose to go into nuclear because they believe in the power of the technology to help people. So, the core question is this: How do we inspire and educate a new, larger generation of professionals? It has to start at the K-12 level.”

To further this goal, the Society has brought on Uchenna Ezibe as senior manager of STEM programs. Ezibe, who has spent his career in education or STEM program management, has a clear passion for STEM education and a natural curiosity about nuclear science and technology and is very excited to help grow ANS’s educational programs.

Wharton

Effective today, American Nuclear Society member Art Wharton has been named business area president for Studsvik Scandpower Group. Wharton joined Studsvik in 2017 as a vice president and has held the role of acting president of the Studsvik Scandpower Business Area since October 6 of last year.

"Art Wharton will play an important role in shaping the future of the Scandpower business through his knowledge, experience, and his broad industry network,” said Camilla Hoflund, president and chief executive officer at Studsvik. “I look forward to the further development of our ability to benefit the nuclear energy market with Scandpower's software, and services."

The American Nuclear Society 2023 Annual Meeting will kick off on June 11 in Indianapolis, Ind., and will run through June 14. ANS has named the recipients of six awards that will be presented at the meeting. Five new Fellows will also be honored at the opening plenary session. Additionally, the Tuesday's plenary session will include the presentation of five presidential citations and a recognition and show of appreciation for Steven Arndt, ANS's outgoing president.

At the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Nuclear Energy Assembly, held this year in Washington, D.C., the Henry DeWolf Smyth Nuclear Statesman Award was presented on May 17 to Mark Peters, Battelle’s executive vice president for national laboratory management and operations.

Thirty teams of players participated in the 21st annual Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness (CNTA) Charity Golf Tournament at the Houndslake Country Club in Aiken, S.C. The tournament, held on on May 12, raised net proceeds of about $23,000, which the nonprofit organization will use to educate the public about issues related to nuclear energy. In addition, more than $700 in donations were raised for the group’s community gift card program.