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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
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.
Aamir Husain
Nuclear Technology | Volume 85 | Number 1 | April 1989 | Pages 66-73
Technical Paper | Chemical Processing | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34228
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A regenerative process involving the use of a dilute solution of nitric (0.5 to 1.0 wt%) and hydrofluoric (0.05 wt%) acids was developed for decontaminating stainless steels (Type 304) to release limits. The solution is regenerated using a strong acid cation exchanger and may eventually be disposed of after processing through a strong base anion exchanger. The waste management aspect of the decontamination is thus limited to the disposal of relatively small volumes of spent cation and anion exchange resins. Application of the acidic reagent for 1 hat 95°C to the tray surfaces of an obsolete irradiated fuel storage basket from Pickering Nuclear Generating Station resulted in the removal of metal exceeding 1 µm and a residual (β,γ) contamination below a target limit of 0.1 µCi/m2. A soak tank system with associated purification, vapor handling, and auxiliary systems is proposed for performing full-scale decontaminations of the baskets.
