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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
Standards Program
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Shifting the paradigm of supply chain
Chad Wolf
When I began my nuclear career, I was coached up in the nuclear energy culture of the day to “run silent, run deep,” a mindset rooted in the U.S. Navy’s submarine philosophy. That was the norm—until Fukushima.
The nuclear renaissance that many had envisioned hit a wall. The focus shifted from expansion to survival. Many utility communications efforts pivoted from silence to broadcast, showcasing nuclear energy’s elegance and reliability. Nevertheless, despite being clean baseload 24/7 power that delivered a 90 percent capacity factor or higher, nuclear energy was painted as risky and expensive (alongside energy policies and incentives that favored renewables).
Economics became a driving force threatening to shutter nuclear power. The Delivering the Nuclear Promise initiative launched in 2015 challenged the industry to sustain high performance yet cut costs by up to 30 percent.
Technical Session|Panel|Sponsored by DESD|Cosponsored by ETWDD
Tuesday, November 17, 2020|4:50–6:30PM EST
Session Chair:
Lawrence E. Boing
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
James J. Byrne
Staff Producer:
Susan Gallier (American Nuclear Society)
The decommissioning workforce is changing from that which did the first decommissioning projects in the 1980s and early 1990s. Many of the current staff working decommissioning are reaching retirement age - but the need for replenishment staff on such projects is only increasing - more work is coming available in commercial NPP and FCF D&D and DOE/Government Facility D&D projects and programs. What happened is that as this transition takes place - we see more effort is now being focused on adding younger, recent new graduates and other 'career changing' staff (totally new to the D&D area) to undertake such work. Also, the number of staff needed for such work is steadily growing both for operators and regulators and subcontractors. This session will look at some of the efforts underway in the industry to supply this supply chain to 'power up' the decommissioning staffs and their credentials moving forward at all levels - university, government, operators and others.
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