Mark your calendar for the 2026 ANS Annual Conference

Event details: This year’s Annual Conference is taking place at the Sheraton Denver. With the theme of “Net Out & Power Up,” it aims to explore the pivotal moment facing the nuclear sector as those in the fusion space race to achieve net energy gain and those in fission work to scale up power production.

The conference will bring together leaders from across the spectrum of fission and fusion to examine the technical milestones, financial strategies, and commercialization pathways required to turn breakthrough innovation into sustained power generation and economic benefit.

From technical to executive to plenary sessions, this year’s talks feature an impressive list of speakers. The opening plenary alone features Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Ho Nieh, TAE Technologies CEO Michl Binderbauer, ITER Director General Pietro Barabaschi, and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Director Steven Cowley.

Beyond these sessions, the conference will also include another offering of ANS’s Nuclear 101 certificate course, in which some of the field’s leading experts provide an in-depth understanding of the essentials of nuclear energy and engineering to a variety of industry professionals.

Also offered in conjunction with this year’s conference is the opportunity to embark on a technical tour of Xcimer Energy’s Phoenix Laser Facility that will highlight the fusion company’s approach to inertial confinement fusion. The tour sold out quickly, so a second tour group was scheduled. Click here for more information.

Embedded topicals: The Annual Conference will feature two embedded topicals: Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE 2026) and Nuclear Fuels and Materials 2026. TOFE 2026 is set to dive even deeper on recent progress in the fusion world. A mix of talks will address topics such as fusion pilot plant design, component and materials development, enabling technologies, manufacturing readiness, and supply chain resilience.

Nuclear Fuels and Materials will focus on the ongoing efforts in the fuel sector to enable the United States’ ambitious plans for a new wave of nuclear deployment in the coming decades. In all, this year’s Annual Conference promises to be an exciting and multifaceted look at the fast-moving state of the industry.