The History of the American Nuclear Society

Since 1954, ANS has united global professionals advancing the peaceful use of nuclear science and technology.

The Beginnings

Efforts to launch what became the American Nuclear Society began just two days after President Dwight D. Eisenhower addressed the United Nations, calling for international cooperation and sharing of nuclear science and technology for peaceful civilian applications. On December 10, 1953, a small group of pioneering nuclear professionals met in the offices of Nucleonics magazine at the McGraw-Hill Building in New York City to discuss forming the first professional society for nuclear scientists and engineers.

Inspired by Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace vision of harnessing nuclear science and technology for the betterment of humanity, the American Nuclear Society was formally established on October 11, 1954, at the National Academy of Sciences Building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Their mission: to foster technical collaboration, host scientific meetings, and publish peer-reviewed research to guide the safe and responsible development of nuclear technology for peaceful uses, from energy, medicine, and healthcare to agriculture, industry, and space exploration.

The American Nuclear Society’s principal founders, from left: Jerome D. Luntz, Urner Liddel, and William M. Breazeale.

Most, if not all, of ANS’s organizing founders were veterans of the Manhattan Project during the Second World War. Nearly a decade after helping develop the atomic bomb, these scientists and engineers had become leading figures across the United States—in government, academia, and industry— and were now channeling their expertise into the peaceful deployment of nuclear energy. This momentum was driven by the newly enacted Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which declassified nuclear power technologies and forged public-private partnerships to deploy the nation’s first civilian reactors.

Following its establishment as a not-for-profit association of individual members, the Society rapidly expanded in scope and impact—shaped by, and shaping, the evolving nuclear field. ANS held its first Annual Meeting at Pennsylvania State University in June 1955 and elected its first President. It launched its first technical journal, Nuclear Science and Engineering, in March 1956, and formed its Standards Committee by November of that year. Nuclear News debuted in 1959 as a four-page mimeographed newsletter, focused on Society activities and industry developments, before switching to a magazine format in 1961. By the end of the 1950s, ANS had grown to include three Professional Divisions, 14 Local Sections, and 11 Student Branches, with membership rising from 200 to more than 2,950.

ANS officers elected at the first annual meeting, June 1955 at Penn State, were (from left): James Gwavas Beckerley II, editor; Karl Cohen, treasurer; Philip Sporn, vice president; and Walter Zinn, president. (Photo courtesy of Penn State)

During the 1960s ANS grew rapidly, driven in no small part by the construction of many nuclear plants in the United States and elsewhere for generating electricity, and also by the research in using the technology for a variety of other uses, from aerospace to merchant ships to medicine. By the end of the 1960s, ANS had 12 divisions, 28 local sections, 40 student branches, three periodicals (two journals and a magazine), and was running two national meetings and several topical meetings each year.

Each succeeding decade has brought changes both to ANS and to nuclear science and technology. In the 1970s, ANS became even more international minded than it already was, establishing Local Sections outside the U.S. including the Latin American Section of ANS in 1975, and also took its first formal steps in outreach activities. The 1980s became a time of focus on operating the plants, since there were no new U.S. plant orders, and an increased emphasis on radioactive waste management; the U.S. federal government enacted major legislation about both low- and high-level wastes and ANS started its Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Division.

In the 1990s, as the internet began reshaping how people and organizations connected with the world, the Society launched its website in 1995. During the same decade, ANS responded to a consolidating industry by increasing its presence in Washington, D.C., undertaking its first professionally directed strategic planning, and working to strengthen the pipeline of qualified nuclear professionals.

While ANS is national and international in its scope, its headquarters is located in Westmont, Illinois (about 23 miles from downtown Chicago).

It did not start there, however. As with many associations, ANS moved around some during its early years. ANS's first "home" was in space provided by the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In 1958 the headquarters were moved to small offices in downtown Chicago, and in 1964 the headquarters were moved to larger offices spaces in Hinsdale, Illinois. Finally, in 1977 the Society moved to its own headquarters building (owned by ANS) in La Grange Park. ANS would stay in the brick, three-story and nearly 30,000-square-foot building, the former elementary Oak School, until it was sold and torn down in 2023. After a brief temporary stay in Downers Grove, ANS headquarters relocated in 2024 to Westmont.

Today

ANS has made, and continues to make, important contributions to the use of nuclear science and technology, and consequently to the larger society beyond ANS. It achieves this through its many products and services, including meetings, publications, standards, outreach, honors and awards, scholarships, teachers workshops, Organization Members, and representation in Washington, D.C.

ANS continues to be a professional organization of scientists, engineers, and other professionals devoted to the peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology. Its more than 10,000 members, from 50+ countries, come from diverse technical disciplines ranging from physics and nuclear safety to operations and power, and from across the full spectrum of the national and international enterprise, including government, academia, research laboratories, and private industry. Making it all succeed are a Board of Directors, 20 standing committees, 19 Professional Divisions, 41 Local Sections, 58 Student Sections, liaison agreements with more than 30 non-U.S. nuclear societies, and a headquarters staff of about 35 people.

Milestones in ANS's History