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Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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!
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Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Dr. Manson Benedict was the 8th president of the American Nuclear Society (ANS).In 1957, Dr. Benedict was elevated to the status of a Fellow of ANS. In 1969, he received the Arthur Holly Compton Award in Education and in 1979 the Henry DeWolf Smyth Nuclear Statesman Award. He was the 1985 recipient of the ANS Seaborg Medal.
Dr. Manson Benedict was born on October 9, 1907. He was known for his pioneering role in nuclear engineering. He developed the gaseous diffusion method for separating the isotopes of uranium and supervised the engineering and process development of the K-25 plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where fissionable material for the atomic bomb was produced.
In 1951 he was invited to be MIT’s first professor of nuclear engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering. The Department of Nuclear Engineering was established on July 1, 1958, with Dr. Benedict as the first department head.
From 1958 to 1968, Dr. Benedict was a member and chair of the Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission, appointed by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy.
He received many awards for his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II, and for his later career as a scientist, educator, and public servant, which focused on nuclear power and other peaceful uses of atomic energy. These included the William H. Walker award in 1947, the Perkin Research Medal in 1966, the Robert E. Wilson Award in 1968, the Enrico Fermi Award in 1972, and the National Medal of Science from President Gerald Ford in 1975. The Wilson Award citation said of Dr. Benedict, “He has served education, industry and government with quiet and unwavering dedication.” In recognition of his contributions, the Manson Benedict Fellowship fund was established in the MIT Nuclear Engineering Department in 1983.
Manson received a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in chemistry in 1928, master’s and doctorate degrees from MIT in physical chemistry in 1932, and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1935.
Dr. Manson Benedict passed away on September 18, 2006.
Last modified November 24, 2020, 10:42am CST
