ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2026
Nuclear Technology
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|Technology Research and Development
Wednesday, April 29, 2026|1:00–2:00PM EDT|Room 302/303/304
Session Chair:
Julia Cline
Alternate Chair:
Vincenzo Barbato
To access paper attachments, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
Register NowLog In
Sintering Behavior of Transition Metal Tetra-Carbides for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
1:00–1:06PM EDT
Timothy Stack (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Keaton McNulty (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Ethan Payne (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Steven Zinkle (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville)
Paper
Thermal Hydraulics Simulations of the XE-Prime Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) Engine Using Flownex
1:06–1:12PM EDT
Miles Adkins (PADT Inc), Thomas Chadwick (PADT Inc)
TiC Precipitate Effects on the Thermal Conductivity and Fracture Toughness of Ti-Containing Tri-Carbides
1:12–1:18PM EDT
Keaton McNulty (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Timothy Stack (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Ethan Payne (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Steven Zinkle (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville)
Analysis of Thermophysical Properties of Fuels for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
1:18–1:24PM EDT
Hanshu Kotta (Ohio State), Saqeeb Adnan (Ohio State), Marat Khafizov (Ohio State)
Kinetic and Reactor Modeling of Hydrogen-Graphite Interactions Under Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Conditions
1:24–1:30PM EDT
Thomas Westenhofer (Univ. California, Irvine), Xian Shi (Univ. California, Irvine)
Ion Beam Irradiation Tolerance of Ultra-High Temperature Ceramic Carbides for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
1:30–1:36PM EDT
Ethan Payne (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Steven Zinkle (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville)
Multiphysics Modeling of Hydrogen Transport in Space Nuclear Systems with FESTIM
1:36–1:42PM EDT
Chirag Khurana (MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center), Rémi Delaporte-Mathurin (MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center), James Dark (MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center), Huihua Yang (MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center), Kaelyn Dunnell (MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center)
Graphene-Copper Hybrid Thermal Straps
1:42–1:48PM EDT
Dan Wang (Faraday Technology Inc.), Timothy Hall (Faraday Technology Inc.), Stephen Snyder (Faraday Technologies Inc.), Maria Inman (Faraday Technology Inc.), Jessica Godwin (Utah State), Nick Roberts (Utah State), Houng Le (Faraday Technology Inc.)
Preliminary Investigation into Fissile Plasma Simulation for Gas Core Nuclear Power
1:48–1:54PM EDT
Eleni Mowery (Univ. Michigan), John Foster (Univ. Michigan)
