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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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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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.
2020 ANS Virtual Winter Meeting Plenary Session Speaker
Dr. Peter B. Lyons retired from the Department of Energy on June 30, 2015. He now consults on several corporate and laboratory boards, as well as assisting several international groups. He was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy on April 14, 2011 after serving as Acting Assistant Secretary since November 2010. Dr. Lyons was appointed to his previous role as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Nuclear Energy in September 2009. Before joining DOE, Dr. Lyons was appointed by President Bush as a Commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, starting on January 25, 2005. He was subsequently nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. His NRC term ended on June 30, 2009.
Previously, Dr. Lyons served as Science Advisor to U.S. Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources from 1997 to 2005. From 1969 to 2003, Dr. Lyons worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory where he served on assignment to Senator Domenici and as Director for Industrial Partnerships, Deputy Associate Director for Energy and Environment, Deputy Associate Director for Defense Research and Applications and Group Leader for Fast Plasma Diagnostics. While at Los Alamos, he spent over a decade supporting nuclear test and laser fusion diagnostics.
Dr. Lyons has presented more than 400 papers or talks on a wide range of technical and policy topics in addition to testifying before the U.S. Congress on many occasions. He holds four patents related to fiber optics and plasma diagnostics and served as chairman of the NATO Nuclear Effects Task Group for five years. He received his doctorate in nuclear astrophysics from the California Institute of Technology in 1969 and earned his undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics from the University of Arizona in 1964. Dr. Lyons is a Fellow of both the American Nuclear Society and the American Physical Society; received the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal from the American Nuclear Society, the Henry DeWolf Smyth Nuclear Statesman Award from the American Nuclear Society and the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Alvin M. Weinberg Medal from the American Nuclear Society, the James Landis Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Nuclear Infrastructure Council; and was elected to 16 years on the Los Alamos School Board.
Dr. Lyons grew up in Nevada and is now a resident of Golden, Colorado.
Last modified October 21, 2020, 10:52am EDT
