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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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Oct 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
November 2025
Nuclear Technology
October 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The journey of the U.S. fuel cycle
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
While most big journeys begin with a clear objective, they rarely start with an exact knowledge of the route. When commissioning the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson didn’t provide specific “turn right at the big mountain” directions to the Corps of Discovery. He gave goal-oriented instructions: explore the Missouri River, find its source, search for a transcontinental water route to the Pacific, and build scientific and cultural knowledge along the way.
Jefferson left it up to Lewis and Clark to turn his broad, geopolitically motivated guidance into gritty reality.
Similarly, U.S. nuclear policy has begun a journey toward closing the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. There is a clear signal of support for recycling from the Trump administration, along with growing bipartisan excitement in Congress. Yet the precise path remains unclear.
Advanced Reactor Safety (ARS)
Technical Session|Panel
Wednesday, June 19, 2024|3:15–5:00PM PDT|Palm A
Session Chair:
Robert W. Youngblood
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Dennis W. Henneke
This panel will focus on two complementary undertakings: (1) RAMI (Reliability Availability Maintainability Inspectability), and (2) RIM (Reliability Integrity Management). Both involve setting targets for their respective “ilities” and managing plants to meet those targets. Setting those targets to address multiple objectives (safety, availability, cost, …) is challenging, because to some extent those objectives compete. Panelists will focus on experience in meeting that challenge.
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