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Conference Spotlight
2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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!
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Latest News
What’s the most difficult question you’ve been asked as a maintenance instructor?
Blye Widmar
"Where are the prints?!"
This was the final question in an onslaught of verbal feedback, comments, and critiques I received from my students back in 2019. I had two years of instructor experience and was teaching a class that had been meticulously rehearsed in preparation for an accreditation visit. I knew the training material well and transferred that knowledge effectively enough for all the students to pass the class. As we wrapped up, I asked the students how they felt about my first big system-level class, and they did not hold back.
“Why was the exam from memory when we don’t work from memory in the plant?” “Why didn’t we refer to the vendor documents?” “Why didn’t we practice more on the mock-up?” And so on.
International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management 2022 Speaker
Tito Bonano is currently Principal Advisor, Nuclear Fuel Cycle Programs at NAC International, Inc. He has nearly 40 years of experience in the nuclear energy fuel cycle, particularly in nuclear waste management. At Sandia National Laboratories, until his retirement in December 2021, Tito was a senior manager leading a multidisciplinary organization conducting R&D projects in both the front end and back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. He played key roles in the initial NRC projects to develop their performance assessment capabilities, the WIPP program, and was a member of the OCRWM leadership team that developed the License Application for the Yucca Mountain Repository, first as licensing manager for the Lead Laboratory for Repository Systems and the subsequently as the Lead Laboratory’s senior program manager.
Based on his own experiences working in the WIPP and Yucca Mountain programs, Tito has had a keen interest in the intersection between the physical sciences and engineering and the policy, social and economic issues related to nuclear energy and nuclear waste management. He was co-founder and co-director of the joint University of Oklahoma – Sandia National Laboratories Center for Energy, Security and Society established in 2013 following several decades of collaborations between the two institutions.
Tito is the winner of two Secretary of Energy Achievement Awards in 2018 and in 2021, and of two Great Minds in STEM’s Hispanic Engineer Awards: Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000 and Lifetime Achievement Award– National Laboratory in 2020.
Tito’s degrees in chemical engineering include a B.S. from the University Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, and M.S. and Ph.D. from Clarkson University.
Last modified September 12, 2022, 7:50am MST
