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Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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
May 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2025
Nuclear Technology
June 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
Advanced Reactor Safety (ARS) SPeaker
Eric Williams is the Senior Vice President & Design Authority at TerraPower. In this role, he oversees the engineering associated with TerraPower’s advanced reactors and medical isotope programs. He works closely with the senior program managers to provide design, analysis and testing to meet project objectives. Williams has 22 years of experience in engineering and has spent the last 15 years developing nuclear power plant designs, with an emphasis on safety.
Before coming to TerraPower, Williams spent four years at B&W mPower developing a new small modular reactor design and worked to develop the safety of the plant and take the design through pre-licensing with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He also led the development of an Integrated Systems Test facility, which was a small-scale, electrically powered version of the nuclear power plant used to demonstrate the safety characteristics of the plant during simulated accident scenarios.
Earlier in his career, Williams worked on another new reactor design where he led a team that analyzed severe accidents. He developed the analysis and documentation needed to license the design and took the severe accident analysis through the licensing process.
Prior to working on new nuclear reactor designs, Williams worked on making the current fleet of nuclear power plants in the U.S. more efficient by upgrading their equipment and modernizing their systems. He worked directly with electric power utilities and visited operating nuclear power plants to understand the issues they faced and helped develop solutions.
Williams holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida, a Master of Business Administration from Lynchburg College and a Professional Engineer license.
Last modified April 4, 2024, 6:36am PDT
