One of the few constants at American Nuclear Society national meetings is the recognition of exceptional individuals in the nuclear community. ANS President Lisa Marshall has named this season’s award recipients, who received recognition at this week's Winter Conference and Expo in Orlando, Fla.

ANS also announced the winners of awards presented by the Society’s professional divisions. These awards have been mailed to the recipients, and the divisions have recognized or will recognize honorees at various division functions and meetings this fall. The 19 professional divisions of ANS are constituent units and represent a vast array of nuclear science and technology disciplines.

As the American Nuclear Society’s 2024 Winter Meeting and Expo kicks off in Orlando, Fla., the nuclear industry’s eyes are turned toward the future—advanced technologies, updated regulations, a new administration, and importantly, the future of the workforce.

As a primer to the American Nuclear Society Winter Conference and Expo, ANS Executive Director/Chief Executive Craig Piercy hosted a panel discussion titled “The State of Nuclear,” sponsored by the ANS Trustees of Nuclear. The October 29 discussion, the first in a two-part series, featured five thought leaders from the nuclear community as they reviewed the current state of nuclear power. The second panel will take place during the ANS Winter Conference in Orlando, Fla., on November 18.

The life and career of James Wm. Behrens have been intertwined with the American Nuclear Society since his joining as a member in 1979. Now, to recognize Behrens for his philanthropic and programmatic commitment to ANS, the conference room at ANS's new headquarters has been named in his honor.

Julie and Jim Byrne on their wedding day, May 22, 1976.

As I was finishing my studies at the University of Pittsburgh and about to graduate with a degree in civil engineering, I talked to a local navy recruiter about a position with the Seabees. He told me there were no Seabee billets, but that the navy had a nuclear power program that might interest me. When I said yes, it wasn’t long before I was whisked off to Washington, D.C., to interview with someone named Admiral Hyman Rickover. The one thing they told me was to stand up to “the kindly old gentleman.”

The day started with technical interviews and then I was ushered into the admiral’s office. I was a typical college student, and I spent my money on food and beer and not on haircuts. On seeing me, Admiral Rickover told me that I looked like a girl. After a bit of back-and-forth, he asked me a couple of other questions. His last comment to me was that I must know something and to get out of his office.

An article on the Huffington Post examines the prospects for re-establishing nuclear energy in Puerto Rico, uncovering a mix of positive and negative attitudes toward nuclear power in the U.S. territory.

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.