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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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May 2025
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Latest News
Sam Altman steps down as Oklo board chair
Advanced nuclear company Oklo Inc. has new leadership for its board of directors as billionaire Sam Altman is stepping down from the position he has held since 2015. The move is meant to open new partnership opportunities with OpenAI, where Altman is CEO, and other artificial intelligence companies.
Dr. Andrew Kadak has been a member of the American Nuclear Society for 40 years. He is an ANS Fellow. Dr. Kadak is currently president of Kadak Associates, Inc., consulting on the decommissioning of nuclear plants and has served on safety review boards of various nuclear utilities. His diverse background includes nuclear plant operations, senior executive utility management, and teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Dr. Kadak has led license renewal of operating reactors, systematic evaluation of older plants to allow them to demonstrate compliance to new regulations, financial rate proceedings to assure adequate capital for safe operation, innovative fuel purchase agreements, high level nuclear waste disposal, and storage solutions. His technical background has allowed him to actively direct regulatory strategy dealing with reactor vessel embrittlement, safety analyses, boiling water reactor pipe replacements and how to manage aging nuclear plants.
Internationally, Dr. Kadak also served on the Senior Nuclear Safety Oversight Board of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Stations in Guangdong Province, China, and participated in an IAEA inspection of the Onagawa Nuclear Power Station after the Fukushima nuclear accident.
Dr. Kadak was formerly President and CEO of the Yankee Atomic Electric Company (YAEC) that operated the Yankee Atomic Nuclear Power station. During his tenure there, he held project management positions supporting stations such as Vermont Yankee, Maine Yankee, and Seabrook station. He was Vice President of the Nuclear Engineering Services before becoming President and CEO.
He has served as a board and executive committee member of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and the industry’s Advisory Committee on High Level Waste in addition to many nuclear industry committees such as Edison Electric Institute, the Electric Council of New England, and the Electric Power Research Institute. In 2005, Dr. Kadak was named by President Bush to serve on the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board for two four-year terms.
From 1998 to 2010, Dr. Kadak was a Professor of the Practice in the Nuclear Engineering Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research interests include the development of advanced reactors, in particular the high temperature pebble bed gas reactor, space nuclear power systems, improved technology neutral licensing standards for advanced reactors and operations and management issues of existing nuclear power plants.
He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Union College, an M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Northeastern University (M.B.A.) and his Ph.D., in Nuclear Engineering - Reactor Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Read Nuclear News from July 1999 for more on Andrew.
Last modified October 19, 2018, 8:20am CDT