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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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Remembering ANS member Gil Brown
Brown
The nuclear community is mourning the loss of Gilbert Brown, who passed away on July 11 at the age of 77 following a battle with cancer.
Brown, an American Nuclear Society Fellow and an ANS member for nearly 50 years, joined the faculty at Lowell Technological Institute—now the University of Massachusetts–Lowell—in 1973 and remained there for the rest of his career. He eventually became director of the UMass Lowell nuclear engineering program. After his retirement, he remained an emeritus professor at the university.
Sukesh Aghara, chair of the Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization, noted in an email to NEDHO members and others that “Gil was a relentless advocate for nuclear energy and a deeply respected member of our professional community. He was also a kind and generous friend—and one of the reasons I ended up at UMass Lowell. He served the university with great dedication. . . . Within NEDHO, Gil was a steady presence and served for many years as our treasurer. His contributions to nuclear engineering education and to this community will be dearly missed.”
Challenge: Close the nuclear fuel cycle.
How: Firmly establish the pathway that leads to closing the nuclear fuel cycle to support the demonstration and deployment of advanced fission reactors, accelerators, and material recycling technologies to obtain maximum value while minimizing environmental impact from using nuclear fuel.
Background: Addressing nuclear waste disposal and closing the nuclear fuel cycle would have many significant public benefits. It must be commensurate with the design of any emerging commercial nuclear products. Reducing the stockpiles of used nuclear fuel and excess stocks of highly-enriched uranium would significantly reduce the worldwide potential for proliferation of nuclear materials. The costs and maintenance of large independent spent fuel storage facilities would be greatly minimized, saving billions of dollars in waste storage and associated security costs. Additionally, it would include streamlined government regulations and permit expedited regulatory reviews, certification, and licensing for advanced reactors. Furthermore, it would enable enhanced public support for nuclear technologies and increased governmental funding for the development of advanced high-level waste-burning reactors.
Adoption of an advanced reactor-based nuclear waste disposal solution through closing the nuclear fuel cycle would enable advanced reactors to burn remaining inventories of used nuclear fuel that are currently stored at commercial and government nuclear facilities to produce significant amounts of electricity. Nuclear waste would be minimized, eliminating the need for large waste disposal facilities. Concepts, in addition to reactor solutions, would also be possible and developed, such as innovative and safe approaches utilizing Accelerator Driven Systems. These systems remove the long-term radiotoxicity of spent fuel, generate energy to recover its cost, eliminate the need for a large geological repository, and avoid the use of fuel reprocessing steps.
The current approach to the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle was formulated for reasons that are less convincing to many than they may have seemed generations ago. This has left the nuclear industry highly vulnerable to a stalled nuclear waste disposal pathway. The "most promising" fuel cycles very well could be the fuel cycle families identified in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fuel Cycle Options Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation and Screening Study report series (fuelcycleevaluation.inl.gov). This evaluation and screening work evaluated the breadth of fuel cycle options available in the context of nine evaluation metrics (waste management, proliferation risk, material security risk, safety, environmental impact, resource utilization, development and deployment risk, institutional issues, and financial risk/economics).
Last modified May 12, 2017, 1:22am CDT
