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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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How can radiation protection professionals support the global demand for nuclear energy?
Mauritius Hiller
The nuclear industry is being pushed forward by a global tailwind that includes plans for more conventional nuclear plants and an exciting trend toward developing small modular reactors. These include advanced safety features and novel reactor designs, often powered by new types of fuel.
This new technology must meet existing stringent safety and security demands and must be safe for the environment, workers, and general population. Wide acceptance of international standards, as well as standardization of designs and plant concepts, will help in the long run.
Radiation protection (RP) professionals play a key role from the very start of the design phase. There is rapid and continuous development in the field of RP. Improved computational tools enable better modeling and understanding of radiation shielding, detection, and effects. Nuclear safeguards and nuclear criticality safety are increasingly important.
2022 ANS Annual Meeting
Dr. Kathy McCarthy, Associate Laboratory Director for the Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate, joined the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) after three years as Vice President for Science and Technology and Laboratory Director for the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. She previously held a variety of engineering and leadership roles at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), including Director of Domestic Programs in INL’s Nuclear Science and Technology Directorate, Director of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program Technical Integration Office, and National Technical Director for the Systems Analysis Campaign for DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Fuel Cycle R&D Program.
McCarthy began her career in fusion technology with a focus on liquid metal blanket designs. She was a participant in the US DOE US-USSR Young Scientist program, which included working at the Efremov Institute in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, the Latvian Academy of Sciences in Riga, Latvia, and the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow, Russia, and was also a Guest Scientist at the Kernforschungzentrum Karlsruhe (now the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) in Karlsruhe, West Germany.
McCarthy earned her Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a major field of fusion engineering and minor fields of nuclear science and engineering, and physics – electricity and magnetism. She was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2019 and has received two American Nuclear Society (ANS) presidential citations. Her awards include the 1996 ITER US Home Team Leadership Award, and the 1994 David Rose Award for Excellence in Fusion Engineering. McCarthy served on the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee from 1999 to 2013 and on the US ITER Technical Advisory Committee from 2010 to 2013 and has held numerous ANS leadership positions. She was elected as a fellow of the American Nuclear Society in 2021.
Last modified May 26, 2022, 6:52am PDT
