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.
Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2025
Nuclear Technology
June 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
UWC 2022 speaker
Craig Ranson is the Senior Vice President of Installed Base America for Framatome Inc. In this role, Ranson is responsible for the Installed Base Business Unit’s continued development and overall delivery of innovative products and services, component upgrades, and engineering solutions to sustain and enhance the nuclear energy facilities in North America.
Ranson began his career with the company in 1991 as an intern, which led him to the Reactor and Services organization in 1992, supporting the development of advanced robotics and remote tooling. After leaving the company in 1997, Ranson returned in 2001 to what became AREVA Nuclear Services, performing operations and engineering work in the Outage and NDE Services group.
In 2010, Ranson was promoted to Vice President of NDE Solutions and later as Vice President of Component Repair and Replacement Services. In 2014, Ranson was appointed Chief Operations Officer for AREVA Inc. and served as interim Chief Commercial Officer where he was responsible for the entire operations and customer relations for North America. In August 2016, Ranson was appointed Senior Vice President of Installed Base Services Business Unit, responsible for all operating and engineering services for existing operating plants. Effective January 2017, Craig Ranson became the Senior Vice President of Installed Base America.
A graduate of Virginia Tech, Ranson holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. In addition, he completed the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations’ (INPO) Senior Nuclear Plant Management course (class 109) and attended the Harvard Executive MBA training course.
Last modified July 15, 2022, 8:53am EDT
