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2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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Casting a wider net
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
Recently, a colleague related to me a conversation overheard at an industry forum in which ANS was referred to as a group of “academics” who were of limited use in expanding the workforce needed to deliver a nuclear resurgence.
While not new, this criticism still gets me hypertensive when I hear it. Many still see ANS as a bunch of academics and “labbies” disconnected from the day-to-day commercial nuclear race.
Yet, I also understand the charge is not entirely without foundation. Pop your head into a technical session at an ANS national conference, and you’re bound to hear academics presenting research that, to nontechnical ears, sounds esoteric.
Technical Session
Tuesday, May 10, 2022|1:30–3:30PM EDT|Calypso
Session Chair:
John Scott (NASA)
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Leonard Dudzinski (NASA)
Four presentations from U.S. and international contributors, discussing reactor, thruster, and power conversion concepts.
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High Power Electric Propulsion Thruster Trades for a Nuclear Electric Propulsion-Based Human Mars Mission
Timothy Kokan (Aerojet Rocketdyne), C. Russell Joyner II (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Daniel J.H. Levack (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Dennis E. Morris (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Brian J. Muzek (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Rodney W. Noble (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Samuel Rapoport (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Christopher B. Reynolds (Aerojet Rocketdyne), Jakob Trescott (Aerojet Rocketdyne)
Paper
Conceptual Design of a Rotary Space Reactor with Naturally Circulating Water Driven by Centrifugal Force
Keigo Hasegawa (Tokyo City Univ.), Kazumasa Taneda (Tokyo City Univ.), Rikio Watanabe (Tokyo City Univ.), Naoyuki Takaki (Tokyo City Univ.)
Nuclear Electric Propulsion Brayton Power Conversion Working Fluid Considerations
Rodger Dyson (NASA Glenn Research Center), D. V. Rao (LANL), Matthew Duchek (Analytical Mechanics Assoc.), Christopher Harnack (Analytical Mechanics Assoc.), Robert Scheidegger (NASA Glenn Research Center), Lee Mason (NASA), Al Juhasz (NASA Glenn Research Center), Luis Rodriguez (NASA Glenn Research Center), Ronald Leibach (NASA Glenn Research Center), Steven Geng (NASA Glenn Research Center), Daniel Goodell (NASA Glenn Research Center)
Genetic Optimization of a Conversion System Based on a Rankine Cycle and its Heat Sink for a 1 MWe Space Nuclear Reactor
Carlos-Jesús Romero-Casado (CEA), Nicolas Rey-Tornero (CEA), Guillaume Campioni (CEA), Yannick Gorsse (CEA), Daniel Heuer (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Nicolas Jonqueres (CEA), Sébastien Le Martelot (CNES)
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