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2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Empowering the next generation: ANS’s newest book focuses on careers in nuclear energy
A new career guide for the nuclear energy industry is now available: The Nuclear Empowered Workforce by Earnestine Johnson. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience across 16 nuclear facilities, Johnson offers a practical, insightful look into some of the many career paths available in commercial nuclear power. To mark the release, Johnson sat down with Nuclear News for a wide-ranging conversation about her career, her motivation for writing the book, and her advice for the next generation of nuclear professionals.
When Johnson began her career at engineering services company Stone & Webster, she entered a field still reeling from the effects of the Three Mile Island incident in 1979, nearly 15 years earlier. Her hiring cohort was the first group of new engineering graduates the company had brought on since TMI, a reflection of the industry-wide pause in nuclear construction. Her first long-term assignment—at the Millstone site in Waterford, Conn., helping resolve design issues stemming from TMI—marked the beginning of a long and varied career that spanned positions across the country.
M. Schad
Nuclear Technology | Volume 50 | Number 3 | October 1980 | Pages 267-288
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32530
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We investigated whether it is possible to predict corrosion effects for austenitic steels exposed to liquid sodium with an analytical diffusion model The comparison between experimental measurements of corrosion and calculated corrosion effects is described. A diffusion model served as the basis for the calculations. The comparison showed that the analytical model is able to predict the corrosion effects. The diffusion model is based on the observed sodium corrosion characteristics. It includes the upstream history of the sodium as well as the influence of the corroding wall at the considered location. The test loop’s maximum and minimum sodium temperatures were 750°C (1388°F) and 150°C (303°F = cold trap temperature corresponding to 2 to 3 ppm oxygen content), respectively. The cold trap was part of the main circuit. The loop was built of steel 1.4571. The samples were made of steel 1.4571 or 1.4488. The metallographic investigated surfaces were exposed to sodium at temperatures of 500°C (933°F) to 750°C (1383°F) in the heated part of the loop. The comparison between experimental and analytical results shows that the model is able to predict most characteristics of the sodium austenitic corrosion. The analytical results are qualitatively correct and to a fairly good degree quantatively accurate as well. The accuracy of the model predictions depends primarily on the degree of knowledge of the factors determining the diffusion such as the sodium saturation limits and the diffusion coefficient of the individual stainless-steel elements in the corroding wall.