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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
WIPP: Lessons in transportation safety
As part of a future consent-based approach by the federal government to site new deep geologic repositories for nuclear waste, local communities and states that are considering hosting such facilities are sure to have many questions. Currently, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico is the only example of such a repository in operation, and it offers the opportunity for state and local officials to visit and judge for themselves the risks and benefits of hosting a similar facility. But its history can also provide lessons for these officials, particularly the political process leading up to the opening of WIPP, the safety of WIPP operations and transportation of waste from generator facilities to the site, and the economic impacts the project has had on the local area of Carlsbad, as well as the rest of the state of New Mexico.
Milton Levenson was a member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) for over 50 years and an ANS Fellow, the highest membership grade of the Society. He was elected president in 1983 making him the 29th president of ANS.
Levenson was born on January 4, 1922. He had a long and successful 73 years in the industry. His work experience began at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1944, with most of it in nuclear reactor safety and fuel processing.
He served as a research engineer at Oak Ridge from 1944 to 1948; during part of that time (1944-1946) he was also in the U.S. Army. In 1948, he moved to Illinois to work at Argonne National Laboratory, where he retired as associate laboratory director in 1973.
Levenson then moved to the Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California, where he served as the first director of the nuclear power division, a post he held until 1980. From 1981 and 1988, he served as executive consultant to Bechtel Power Corporation in San Francisco, and became vice president of Bechtel International in 1984, a position he kept until 1989. In 1990, he began work as a private executive consultant, and ended his career as a Senior Technical Advisor to the weapons safety program of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1976 for his contributions to fast reactor technology, nuclear fuel reprocessing, and especially the first remote-handling completely closed fuel-cycle plant. He was also a recipient of a special ANS award for his work on the Source Term. He was a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineering, and received the Robert E. Wilson award from AIChE in 1975 for his contributions to nuclear chemical engineering.
Levenson earned a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1943.
Milton Levenson passed away on March 31, 2018.
Read Nuclear News from July 1983 for more on Milt.
