ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
Edward J. Hennelly was 25th president of the American Nuclear Society (ANS). Ed joined the ANS in 1963 and served in a number of capacities. He served as technical program chairman for several conferences, as program chairman for the Isotopes and Radiation Division from 1969- 1971, and as chairman of the ANS National Program Committee in 1971- 73; chaired the ANS Savannah River Section in 1968, and served on the ANS Board of Directors (1971-74) and Executive Committee (1972-74). He was named a Fellow of ANS in 1968.
Edward Hennelly was born on March 29, 1923. His undergraduate studies at Union College were interrupted by World War II, when he entered the Navy officer training program. During his tour of duty, he was sent to Harvard University and MIT for radar studies. Hennelly would later return to academia and apply the relatively new sciences of radar and microwaves to his graduate studies at Princeton University. While there, he became involved with a project sponsored by the Office of Naval Research to use microwave equipment to measure the dielectric properties of organic liquids.
After receiving his doctorate, he began working for Du Pont in Wilmington, Delaware as a research chemist in the Polychemicals Department. This job led to his introduction to nuclear energy when he was selected to travel to Argonne National Laboratory for training on nuclear-related projects in order to support Du Pont’s work on the Savannah River Plant. His initial assignment was to work on the design of the CP-5 reactor.
Following that, he returned to Wilmington until Du Pont transferred him to Savannah River in 1953, where he worked on a number of reactor designs and safety analyses. Hennelly’s early work on achieving high sustained neutron flux in production reactors earned Savannah River a plaque from the Atomic Energy Commission.
In 1975, he was appointed to the South Carolina Nuclear Advisory Council, and he became its chairman in 1976. He was a member of President Bush’s transition team following his election in 1988.
He was also a member of the American Chemical Society and Sigma Xi.
Hennelley earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Union College and a doctorate in physical chemistry from Princeton University in 1949.
Edward J. Hennelley passed away on April 19, 1997.
Read Nuclear News from July 1979 for more on Ed Hennelly.
Last modified November 24, 2020, 11:15am CST