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Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2026
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Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
The transformation of the NRC: 50 years of commissioners
The dust is beginning to settle following the whirlwind of changes at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over the past year, and 2025 ultimately may be viewed as a transformative year, as well as the year the NRC celebrated its golden anniversary. The 12 months of that milestone year brought more change to the agency in its composition, its mandate, and its relationship to the executive branch than any comparable period in the preceding four decades.
Now at 51 years and counting, the NRC is working with a full commission and issuing new rulemakings to both regulate and support the next round of nuclear deployments. With the turbulence of 2025 still fresh in our minds, Nuclear News decided it was a good time to revisit the professional backgrounds of all 42 NRC commissioners who have served over the agency’s 50-year history to see how the composition of the commission has evolved over time.
Technical Session|Architectures, Missions, and Use Cases
Thursday, April 30, 2026|8:00–9:20AM EDT|Room 306
Session Chair:
Luis Rodriguez
Alternate Chair:
Alexandru Stafie
David Le Falcher did not show to present his paper below. European Space Agency – European Autonomous Access to Space With its Operational Capability With Launches On-Boarding Nuclear Power Sources
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European Space Agency – European Autonomous Access to Space With its Operational Capability With Launches On-Boarding Nuclear Power Sources
8:00–8:20AM EDT
David Le Falcher (ESA), Gauthier Poullin (Airbusprotect), Ludovic Duvet (ESA), Pierre Coquay (ESA), Christophe Fongarland (ESA), Denis Rebuffat (ESA), Frederic Lattwein (Arianegroup), Cedric Lemarié (Arianegroup), Yannick Herlem (Arianegroup)
Paper
Development of Figures of Merit for Size, Weight, Power and Cost Comparison of Solar and Nuclear Space Power Systems
8:20–8:40AM EDT
C. A. Lenyk (Astrion), J.E. Winter (Air Force Research Lab), P.M. Carpenter (Astrion), N.A. Johansson (Astrion), T.J. Allen (Astrion), M.C. Tomb (Astrion), K. M. Church (Astrion), S. K. Fairchild (Astrion)
Coupling Mission Requirements With System-Level Analysis for Rapid Evaluation of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Architectures
8:40–9:00AM EDT
Sonal Mehta (Georgia Tech), Camden Eck (Georgia Tech), Robert Ajluni (Georgia Tech), Cole Ajluni (Georgia Tech), Sabrina Mayor (Georgia Tech), Bradford Robertson (Georgia Tech), Dimitri N. Mavris (Georgia Tech), Dan Kotlyar (Georgia Tech)
Presented by Vishnu P. Reddy (Georgia Tech)
Comparative Analysis of Space Nuclear Propulsion Systems for Cislunar Missions: Part II – Mission Design for Large Payload Delivery
9:00–9:20AM EDT
Saroj Kumar (University of Alabama in Huntsville), Alexander C. Bendoyro (University of Alabama in Huntsville), Dale Thomas (The University of Alabama in Huntsville- Propulsion Research Center)
