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
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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
Jun 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
2020 ANS Virtual Winter Meeting Plenary Session Speaker
Dr. Kathryn McCarthy is Associate Laboratory Director, Fusion and Fission Energy and Science, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Her prior positions incude Vice-President, Science & Technology, and Laboratory Director for Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Director of Domestic Programs for Nuclear Science and Technology (NS&T) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Director of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program Technical Integration Office, Deputy Associate Laboratory Director for NS&T, National Technical Director for the Systems Analysis Campaign for the DOE Fuel Cycle R&D Program. Dr. McCarthy was involved in various other nuclear fission and fusion programs before that; she was employed at the INL for 25 years. She was a Guest Scientist at the Kernforschungszentrum in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1989, and worked in the Soviet Union with the Department of Energy US/USSR Young Scientist Program (1989-1990), at the Efremov and Kurchatov Institutes in Russia, and the Latvian Academy of Science in Latvia.
Dr. McCarthy is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), and has held multiple ANS offices at the local and national level. Her awards include the an ANS Presidential citation in 2015 for “Leadership and guidance of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability effort….that has helped set the stage for US power companies to be able to make informed decisions regarding subsequent license renewal for their operating nuclear units…,” 2011 Nuclear Energy Advocate of the Year Award (given by the Partnership for Science and Technology), the 2011 Girl Scouts of Silver Sage Women of Today and Tomorrow Award, an American Nuclear Society Presidential Citation in 2007 for “…outstanding service to the ANS,” the 2000 ANS Women's Achievement Award, 1996 International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor U.S. Home Team Leadership Award, and the 1994 David Rose Award for Excellence in Fusion Engineering.
Education
B. S. in nuclear engineering from the University of Arizona
M.S. and Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles
Last modified October 26, 2020, 9:33am EDT
