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About ANS |
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Governance |
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ANS > About > Election |
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Eric P. Loewen Vice President / President-Elect Nominating Committee Candidate 2010 |
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For more than 50 years the men and women of the American Nuclear Society have been expanding the horizons across the spectrum of the Nuclear Sciences and Technologies and applying them to improve the quality of life for Americans and the people of the world.Agriculture and manufacturing are increasing their use of NS&T. Nuclear medicine continues to make significant advances. NS&T is a growing tool in national security. Many governments and most members of the public now recognize the benefits of nuclear power and technologies to provide their energy needs. There continues to be a broad acceptance of nuclear energy in the general public, and healthy discussion about employing NS&T to provide clean, secure and affordable electricity that is not dependent on fossil fuels. As the realization that this safe, secure energy solution is underutilized continues to seep into the national psyche, the Society must advocate for national action at the state and national levels of government. For two decades I have worked at all levels to make the ANS a more effective and purposeful institution – President, UW-M student chapter; Chair, Idaho Section; Chair, national Membership Committee; member Nuclear Facilities Standards Committee (NFSC); ANS Representative to COP-6 (The Hague 2000), SD-9 (New York 2001) and UN World Summit on Sustainable Development – WSSD (Johannesburg 2002); elected twice to the Board of Directors; and reelected for a second term as your Treasurer. I was privileged to serve one year on Capitol Hill as an ANS Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Fellow. I now seek a term as ANS President. By capitalizing on the ANS long-range strategic plan we can accomplish much during the three years I would serve on the ANS Executive Committee as President-elect, President, and past-President. Accomplishment of the strategic plan goals requires diligence and focus on the following CORE issues: • Core – technical focus on NS&T • Operating costs – lower them • Relationships – strengthen and expand important partnerships • Emerging future – invest, seek opportunities. Our core at ANS resides in the single constant that knowledge – advanced and shared – is essential for the safe application of NS&T for peaceful purposes. That was President Eisenhower's dream over half a century ago, and it remains a consistent goal for ANS today. We are the stewards of the technical information supporting research in NS&T. This is our core, this is our mission, and this must be our focus. We must get our message out to the general public as well as the policy makers. Focus on Core Technical NS&T. In response to the Atoms for Peace program, our Society was formed to serve as technical steward of information in NS&T (developing, collecting, organizing, sharing, documenting). Our active 19 technical divisions, three technical groups, three technical journals, two professional publications, and ANS News work hard to record a thorough, accurate history, while sharing NS&T knowledge. To continue this important work, ANS must – Archive Publications. We must allocate resources to electronically archive all of our past and future technical journals, Nuclear News, and topical meetings, and do a better job of advertising their accessibility. One of my first recommendations to our new Executive Director addressed this initiative. Maintain and Affirm Technology Standards. Allocate resources for this effort, while looking at growing our market share to stop ceding areas to IEEE and ASME. Share Complementary Bi-annual Meetings. Explore improving our bi-annual national meetings by working with complementary professional organizations (such as NEI, ASME, INPO, NRC, etc) to schedule their workshops and professional forums at the same location before or after our meetings. This offers special value to our members. Operating Costs – Lower Them. As Treasurer for the past three years, I have been working with elected leaders and ANS staff to make monthly financial reporting more transparent. This will deliver the Board of Directors better information and understanding to guide our Executive Director and to pursue efficiencies. Relationships - Strengthen and Expand Important Partnerships. There are many important organizations with whom ANS needs to develop beneficial relationships - NEI, ASME, PROS, ENS, CNS, and management and labor organizations. We should continue our good relationships with nuclear businesses, while maintaining our independence and adherence to professional standards and integrity. We should monitor the pending EPA rule making and litigation coming out of the recent EPA CO2 endangerment finding and be prepared to advocate responsibly for the NS&T solution for all noxious emissions. Such engagements may result in endorsements, or at least passive policies, for nuclear power by those once opposed to NS&T. Emerging Future. For the past 56 years, our technical society has kept a thorough record for NS&T. We need to preserve this record and make it more accessible through modern technology. Specifically, we need to: • Capture and retain knowledge so that we do not lose what we already know; • Continue updating our IT technologies to assure that ANS is recognized as the repository for NS&T knowledge and information, while increasing connectivity among our members; • Increase significantly our recruitment and retention of new professional members; and • Aggressively capture the leadership role in development of Small Modular Reactors. The opportunity in this area is open and available to us. We should take it. My previous ANS leadership positions and my established relationships with the dedicated nuclear professionals who make up our Society convince me that a focus on our CORE – Core technical expertise, lower Operational costs, strengthened Relationships and partnerships, and the Emerging future - will expand our success. New members, energized leaders, and a participating membership are vital to our organization. Each member can make a difference, and a contribution, to our stewardship of the NS&T. As President, I will work with ANS members to advance our expertise and information into the various communities as we continue to pursue the same strategy and vision that our founders had in 1954. That vision is ANS will be the recognized credible advocate for advancing and promoting nuclear science and technology. I pledge to faithfully serve ANS and its active members. Eric P. Loewen |
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