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.
Division Spotlight
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
Meeting Spotlight
2021 ANS Winter Meeting and Technology Expo
November 30–December 3, 2021
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Sep 2021
Jul 2021
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2021
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2021
Latest News
Matthew Denman: On Probabilistic Risk Assessment
Matthew Denman
Probabilistic risk assessment is a systematic methodology for evaluating risks associated with a complex engineered technology such as nuclear energy. PRA risk is defined in terms of possible detrimental outcomes of an activity or action, and as such, risk is characterized by three quantities: what can go wrong, the likelihood of the problem, and the resulting consequences of the problem.
Matthew Denman is principal engineer for reliability engineering at Kairos Power and the chair of the American Nuclear Society and American Society of Mechanical Engineers Joint Committee on Nuclear Risk Management’s Subcommittee of Standards Development. As a college student at the University of Florida, Denman took a course on PRA but didn’t enjoy it, because he did not see its connection to the nuclear power industry. Later, during his Ph.D. study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his advisor was Neil Todreas, a well-known thermal hydraulics expert. Todreas was working on a project with George Apostolakis, who would leave MIT to become a commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The project, “Risk Informing the Design of the Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor,” was a multi-university effort funded through a Department of Energy Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) grant. Todreas and Apostolakis were joined in this project by a who’s who of nuclear academia, including Andy Kadak (MIT, ANS past president [1999–2000]), Mike Driscoll (MIT), Mike Golay (MIT), Mike Lineberry (Idaho State University, former ANS treasurer), Rich Denning (Ohio State University), and Tunc Aldemir (Ohio State University).
June 14–16, 2021
ANS President 2020-2021Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar, PhD
General ChairDr. Thomas ZachariaOak Ridge National Laboratory
ANS Executive Director/CEOCraig H. Piercy
Monday, June 14, 2021 | 10:00AM
Opening Remarks from
Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy
Monday, June 14, 2021 | 10:00AM–12:30PM EDT
Tuesday, June 15, 2021 | 10:00–11:30AM EDT
Wednesday, June 16, 2021 | 10:00–11:30AM EDT
New this year, Executive Panels have been added to provide busy nuclear professionals a broader look at developments in nuclear science and technology and their impact on policy and markets. The Executive Panels will focus on crisis communications, diversity and inclusion, lessons learned from new construction projects, and the 2021 Polar Vortex energy blackouts as well as advances in space technology, non-power technologies and nuclear capabilities, and action on nuclear waste.
Be a part of one of the largest gatherings of nuclear professionals in the country where the brightest minds engage – and inspire – leaders from across the nuclear science and technology landscape.
View our Supporting Partner/Exhibitor Prospectus
