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Conference Spotlight
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
Wednesday, May 11, 2022|4:00–6:00PM EDT|Calypso
Session Chair:
Austen D. Fradeneck (INL)
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Michael B. Smith
To access session resources, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
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High Temperature Furnace Testing of Space Reactor Materials in Relevant Gas Environments
William T. Searight (Penn State), Leigh Winfrey (Penn State)
Paper
Thermophysical Properties of Polycrystalline Pyrolytic Graphite for Radioisotope Space Power Systems
Hsin Wang (ORNL), Frederic Vautard (ORNL), Glenn Romanoski (ORNL), George Ulrich (ORNL), Mark Breloff (Minteq Int'l)
Developing Carbon-Carbon Heat Exchange Tubes for a Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Fuel Element
Julia Cline (NASA Langley Research Center)
Hot Hydrogen Compatibility of Spark Plasma Sintered NbC and (ZrNbW)C for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
Martin Volz (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Ryan Wilkerson (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Arne Croell (Univ. Alabama, Huntsville), Jamelle Williams (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Brian Taylor (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Jhonathan Rosales (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)
Impact of Matrix Microstructure on Fuel Loss from Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Cermet Fuel
Vishal Yadav (Univ. Florida), Jhonathan Rosales (Marshall Space Flight Center), Michael Tonks (Univ. Florida)
Thermophysical and Mechanical Properties Testing of Cermets and Cercers for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
Neal D. Gaffin (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Justin Milner (NASA Glenn Research Center), Kelsa Palomores (Analytical Mechanics Assoc.), Timothy Ironman (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Steven J. Zinkle (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville)
CORTES Software: Leveraging Data Science and Multi-Physics Simulations for Scalable Reactor Design Optimization
Ross Pivovar (BWX Technologies), Ryan Swanson (BWX Technologies), Shane Stimpson (BWX Technologies), Cole Gentry (BWX Technologies)
Material Characterization of Cassini RTG Production Line SiGe Materials
Araseli Cortez (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Chen-Kuo Huang (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Ike Chi (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Jean-Pierre Fleurial (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Overview and Demonstration of the Thermal Hydraulics and Thermo Mechanics ntpThermo Code
Matt Krecicki (Georgia Tech), Dan Kotlyar (Georgia Tech)
Overview and Demonstration of the pyIsoDep Depletion Code
Overview and Demonstration of the NTPSteadyFoam Multi-Physics Code
Matt Krecicki (Georgia Tech), Jim Wang (Georgia Tech), Dan Kotlyar (Georgia Tech)
Modernization of Machining Capabilities for Production of CBCF Components
Nidia C. Gallego (ORNL), George Ulrich (ORNL)
Progress of Fabricating Heritage Silicon Germanium Unicouples
Billy Li (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Sutinee Sujittosakul (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Vilupanur A. Ravi (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Ike Chi (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Jean-Pierre Fleurial (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
The Whats, the Whys, and the Hows of MARM: MCNP and ABAQUS Based Reactor Multiphysics
Vedant K. Mehta (LANL), Sara Newman (LANL), Jerawan Armstrong (LANL), Dasari V. Rao (LANL)
Evaluation of NpN as Irradiation Target Material for Pu-238 Production
Adam Parkison (ORNL)
Automation and Optimization Aspects of MCNP and Abaqus Based Reactor Multiphysics (MARM) Simulations
Sara Newman (LANL), Jerawan Armstrong (LANL), Dasari V. Rao (LANL), Vedant K. Mehta (LANL)
Towards Laser-Based Additive Manufacturing of Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics: Laser-Material Interactions of Zirconium Carbide
Alexander E. Wilson-Heid (LLNL), R. Joey Griffiths (LLNL), Aiden A. Martin (LLNL), Kiel S. Holliday (LLNL), Jason R. Jeffries (LLNL)
Qualification Through X-Ray CT of an Advanced Manufactured Particle Fuel Form Surrogate
Travis McFalls (BWX Technologies), Ryan Kitchen (BWX Technologies), Daniel Galicki (BWX Technologies), John Salasin (BWX Technologies)
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