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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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The spark of the Super: Teller–Ulam and the birth of the H-bomb—rivalry, credit, and legacy at 75 years
In early 1951, Los Alamos scientists Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam devised a breakthrough that would lead to the hydrogen bomb [1]. Their design gave the United States an initial advantage in the Cold War, though comparable progress was soon achieved independently in the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom.
Plenary Session
Friday, April 5, 2024|8:00–9:50AM EDT|Eric J. Barron Innovation Hub Room 603
Session Chair:
Jonathan Balog (Penn State University)
Session Organizer:
Speakers
Lisa MarshallANS Vice President 2023-2024
Sola TalabiSenior ConsultantPittsburgh Technical
Oscar PratSenior Director, AP1000® Construction Support Services Westinghouse Electric Company
It's no secret that building new nuclear power plants in the United States has been a challenging experience. After construction began over a decade ago for Vogtle Units 3 & 4, both units are now online and connected to the grid. Given the energy and resources being invested into reactors of all shapes and sizes, delays on this scale must be avoided as much as possible given the economic costs as well as clean energy goals that must be met. Insights from past and present nuclear plant construction efforts must be applied in a coherent and meaningful way to mitigate or prevent the issues seen previously. This plenary panel aims to dig up, and dig through, some of the historical context of cost/schedule overruns, new issues that were encountered with the AP1000® projects at Vogtle, and how community engagement has contributed to nuclear power project cancellations as well as premature closures. Together, these lessons learned will help inform future construction efforts across the United States, regardless of the reactor being built!
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Attachment — Opening Plenary Biographies
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