This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the American Nuclear Society.

Plenty of sources incorrectly list our birthday, but the reality is that October 11, 1954, is the correct date for the establishment of ANS.

The only nuclear reactor in Australia has returned to power after a monthslong shutdown for planned essential maintenance and upgrades. The OPAL (for open-pool Australian light water reactor) research reactor at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) campus in Sydney successfully went through the most significant engineering maintenance and upgrade project in its 17-year history.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has awarded 19 experimental proposals access to Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) under the 2024 “third call” for Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) projects. In total, the awards are valued at about $1 million and were granted to 19 principal investigators from 11 institutions, including universities and industry researchers.

The American Nuclear Society and the Nuclear Energy Institute have announced a new partnership regarding two of their flagship industry conferences.

ANS’s annual Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo and NEI’s Nuclear Energy Assembly will merge during the week of September 8, 2025, in Atlanta, Ga. The news was shared during the kickoff of the 2024 NEA meeting, happening this week in Philadelphia, Pa.

The American Nuclear Society is excited to announce the launch of its inaugural Nuclear 101 certificate course, scheduled to take place in-person at the 2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo this November. This comprehensive five-day program is designed to provide participants with a robust understanding of nuclear energy and engineering, delivered by some of the field's foremost experts.

Five new directors-at-large joined the American Nuclear Society Board of Directors in June, at the end of the 2024 ANS Annual Conference. Last April, the four at-large members were elected from an initial pool of eight candidates; the Young Member, from a pool of two. Get to know a little about the new ANS leadership below.

Next Monday, July 29, 10:00–11:00 a.m. (EDT), the American Nuclear Society will host a panel discussion titled “Changing Strategy: International Deployment of Nuclear Power Plants.”

Register here—the webinar is open to all viewers.

ANSI/ANS-8.28-2024, Administrative Practices for the Use of Nondestructive Assay Measurements for Nuclear Criticality Safety, was issued on July 15 after receiving approval of the American National Standards Institute in March.

ANSI/ANS-8.28-2024 is now available for purchase in the ANS Online Store.

An analysis of the LDR-50 low-temperature nuclear district heating reactor, developed by Steady Energy, indicates that “significant reductions in CO₂ emissions can be achieved by replacing fossil heating fuels with nuclear energy [district heating].” The study, conducted by researchers from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and published in the journal Energies, describes carbon footprint reductions and other environmental benefits derived from the LDR-50, which Steady Energy hopes to introduce in Finnish and other European district heating markets by the 2030s.

The latest in the series of ANS Community of Practice (CoP) presentations on risk-informed, performance-based (RIPB) principles, held May 31, 2024, was a departure from past presentations. Rani Franovich and N. Prasad Kadambi provided their perspectives on what is missing in current dialogue on RIPB. What followed was a meaningful discussion and exchange of perspectives regarding what is meant by “performance based.”

ANSI/ASME/ANS RA-S-1.2-2024, Severe Accident Progression and Radiological Release (Level 2) PRA Standard for Nuclear Power Plant Applications for Light Water Reactors (LWRs), received the approval of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on May 31, 2024, and was issued on June 17, 2024.

ANSI/ASME/ANS RA-S-1.2-2024 is available in the ANS Online Store.

The American Nuclear Society President’s Special Committee on Certification is continuing to make progress toward launching a nuclear certification program. The program, which was outlined to the ANS Board of Directors in 2023, is being designed to help establish industry standards and bridge workforce gaps in the nuclear sector to address the growing demand for qualified professionals in the nuclear industry.

The American Nuclear Society Student Section at University of California–Irvine presented ANS STEM learning materials at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Young Women’s Conference in STEM. Members of the section were on hand at the May 17 conference, held at University of California–San Diego, with Geiger counters, an ANS Visualizing Radiation Cloud Chamber Kit, pellet cards, and more, courtesy of ANS STEM Programs.

At the “Past Department of Energy Nuclear Energy Officials Roundtable” webinar on May 20, the American Nuclear Society gathered six past assistant secretaries for the Office of Nuclear Energy for a very special discussion. The group of stellar leaders, who have shaped the current state of innovation and growth around nuclear energy, shared insights from their time as NE-1 and their perspectives about where we must go from here.

The American Nuclear Society’s Risk-informed, Performance-based Principles and Policy Committee (RP3C) held another Community of Practice (CoP) on April 26. For this event, the committee welcomed Mory Diané of Oklo. RP3C chair N. Prasad Kadambi led with a brief introduction before Diané shared Oklo's risk-informed, performance-based (RIPB) approach to seismic design categorization and seismic siting characterization.

Diané, a licensing manager with Oklo, is a structural engineer with a background in civil engineering

Each year, more than 60,000 middle schoolers throughout the country participate in DiscoverE’s Future City Competition, which asks students to tackle pressing real-world issues through the lens of urban design and engineering. At this year’s Future City Finals Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C., on February 20, the American Nuclear Society presented the award for Best Use of Nuclear Science.

Mark your calendar and get your name in the books for two exciting conferences coming up in the second half of the year: the 26th Technology of Fusion Energy Meeting (TOFE 2024) and Plutonium Futures—The Science 2024.

The Diversity and Inclusion in ANS Committee on May 9 hosted a webinar titled “Our nuclear family: Empowering parents and caregivers in the nuclear industry.” The speakers, who are parents and caregivers as well as nuclear industry professionals, highlighted how the nuclear industry supports caregivers facing life transitions or focusing on parental responsibilities. They also discussed challenges and areas where the industry has room for improvement in supporting caregivers. Some of the panelists have made their own contributions to fostering inclusiveness for caregivers in the industry.

The full webinar is available for anyone to view online at ans.org/webinars/view-family24/.

BWX Technologies has partnered with the American Nuclear Society to offer customized ANS Nuclear Ambassadors training to BWXT employees. The training kicked off in February with an initial two-hour virtual event that was presented to more than 60 BWXT employees, and it wrapped in April.

BWXT is the first company to participate in ANS’s newly revamped curriculum, which trains experts in K-12 learning.

The American Nuclear Society is hosting a special online panel discussion featuring former officials from the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. The event, “Past DOE Nuclear Energy Officials Roundtable,” will be held on Monday, May 20, from 11:00 to 12:00 p.m. (EDT).

ANS is holding the webinar in honor of Peter Lyons (1943-2021), an ANS Fellow who also was served as assistant secretary of energy for the Office of Nuclear Energy from 2011 to 2015.

Register Now: The event is complimentary and open only to ANS members. Registration will also give you access to a video recording of the panel discussion.