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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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Sep 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
October 2025
Latest News
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.
Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS-2023) Plenary SPeaker
Formerly Nuclear R&D and Management
Idaho National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory
Dr. McFarlane worked 44 years in nuclear R&D and management at Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. He currently serves as President of the Idaho Falls Country Club.
Dr. McFarlane’s experience includes experimental fast reactor physics, nuclear fuel cycle, space power systems, and international nuclear relations. He directed a variety of research programs as well as the operation of major nuclear facilities. He spent a sabbatical year as the senior technical advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy at the Department of Energy. He is a former President of the American Nuclear Society and a past Chairman of the International Nuclear Energy Academy. Dr. McFarlane began his interest in nuclear energy history in 1992 with the publication of Controlled Nuclear Chain Reaction—the First 50 Years. Subsequently he has written and lectured on nuclear topics including Idaho’s contribution to nuclear energy development, most recently for the 2020 edition of the Nuclear Energy Encyclopedia.
Dr. McFarlane’s four-corner education includes a PhD in engineering science from the California Institute of Technology, a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Texas, a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago, and a year on the faculty of New York University.
Last modified December 2, 2022, 7:34am MST
