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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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Empowering the next generation: ANS’s newest book focuses on careers in nuclear energy
A new career guide for the nuclear energy industry is now available: The Nuclear Empowered Workforce by Earnestine Johnson. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience across 16 nuclear facilities, Johnson offers a practical, insightful look into some of the many career paths available in commercial nuclear power. To mark the release, Johnson sat down with Nuclear News for a wide-ranging conversation about her career, her motivation for writing the book, and her advice for the next generation of nuclear professionals.
When Johnson began her career at engineering services company Stone & Webster, she entered a field still reeling from the effects of the Three Mile Island incident in 1979, nearly 15 years earlier. Her hiring cohort was the first group of new engineering graduates the company had brought on since TMI, a reflection of the industry-wide pause in nuclear construction. Her first long-term assignment—at the Millstone site in Waterford, Conn., helping resolve design issues stemming from TMI—marked the beginning of a long and varied career that spanned positions across the country.
Technical Session|Panel|Sponsored by Executive Panels
Wednesday, June 16, 2021|4:30–6:15PM EDT
Session Chair:
Kenneth J. Aupperle (Meridian)
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Charles W. Hess (Meridian)
Staff Producer:
John Starkey (ANS)
Building a new nuclear plant is a first of a kind (FOAK) mega project regardless of the size of the reactor. Project management experience and lessons learned from decades of past projects have been thoroughly documented in dozens of public domain reports. However, past lessons learned have frequently not been recognized, understood, and implemented, resulting in projects that continue to struggle to achieve success. Industry stakeholder implementation of past lessons learned has been inhibited and adversely impacted because of knowledge management "blind spots" that include: • Inadequate experience with nuclear industry large FOAK projects • Conservative owner licensee operating priorities vs. aggressive project mindsets • Corporate cultures coupled with human emotions and personalities • Strategic long-term vs. tactical short-term considerations This panel of industry experts includes representatives from consulting, owner/licensee, EPC, and legal organizations. The panel chair is Ken Aupperle from Meridian Services Group, a recent merger of High Bridge Associates and Work Management. He will provide an overview of fifteen (15) key project management lessons learned and the four (4) blind spots that have led project teams to repeat the errors of the past. Panel members will cite successful project experiences and examples of blind spots that caused project failures. Questions and answers amongst the panelists and with the audience will provide valuable insights and experiential anecdotes. This discussion will help you plan and organize the strategic approach to provide the foundation for success for your new nuclear project.
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Session Notes — About the Panel Members
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