The first Advances in Nuclear Fuel Management (ANFM) conference in eight years is being held July 20–23, 2025, at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Fla.

The next opportunity to earn professional engineer (PE) licensure in nuclear engineering is this fall. Now is the time to sign up and begin studying with the help of materials like the online module program offered by the American Nuclear Society.

Idaho National Laboratory is looking for a sponsor to invest $5 million–$10 million in a privately funded innovation incubator to support seed-stage start-ups working in nuclear energy, integrated energy systems, cybersecurity, or advanced materials. For their investment, the sponsor gets access to what INL calls “a turnkey source of cutting-edge American innovation.” Not only are technologies supported by the program “substantially de-risked” by going through technical review and development at a national laboratory, but the arrangement “adds credibility, goodwill, and visibility to the private sector sponsor’s investments,” according to INL.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recently approved two new American Nuclear Society standards covering different aspects of nuclear criticality safety (NCS).

The 50th anniversary of the founding of the Latin American Section of the American Nuclear Society is today: April 14, 2025! LAS/ANS was created with the goal of representing the interests of the nuclear professionals of Latin America.

The American Nuclear Society’s 2025 Annual Conference will take place June 15–18 this year in Chicago at the Downtown Marriott. The conference is an opportunity to take part in one of the largest gatherings of nuclear professionals in the country and engage with leaders from across the nuclear science and technology landscape. In addition to an impressive list of government and industry leaders, ANS is also planning several outstanding hot-topic technical sessions and popular plenary speakers.

ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy recently spoke on nuclear power’s potential for answering today’s energy demands as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series at the University of Missouri. He also took part in the ribbon cutting for a large addition to the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR).

The Chicago–Great Lakes Local Section of the American Nuclear Society hosted a presentation at the Society’s headquarters in Westmont, Ill., on developments at the molten salt research reactor at Abilene Christian University’s Nuclear Energy Experimental Testing (NEXT) Lab.

A recording of the full presentation is available on the ANS website at ans.org/webinars.

Applications for the Society’s Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship will be closing soon. Congressional Fellows can directly contribute to the federal policymaking process, working in either a U.S. senator’s or representative’s personal office or with a congressional committee. They will be responsible for supplying Congress with their expertise in nuclear science and technology, having a hand in the creation of new laws while gaining a deeper understanding of the legislative process.

The American Nuclear Society’s Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS 2025) conference will take place May 4–8 in Huntsville, Ala. Registration for the meeting is now open, and the Huntsville Marriott at the Space & Rocket Center is also taking room reservations for attendees.

The American Nuclear Society’s Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division recently hosted a webinar on updating material control and accounting (MC&A) and security regulations for the evolving field of advanced reactors.

Go deeper: A recording of the full webinar “Updates on Advanced Nuclear Reactor Security and Material Control and Accounting,” which is available only to ANS members, can be viewed here.

The American Nuclear Society’s online programs continue to provide informative content for the wider nuclear community. Two recent webinars held at the end of January focused on intentional outreach activities and K-12 education: “Equitable Outreach: Now Comes the Hard Part” and “Quest for Gold: Exploring Nuclear Transmutation.”

A recent American Nuclear Society webinar tackled misconceptions about nuclear waste. Christopher Perfetti, an associate professor of nuclear engineering at the University of New Mexico, presented “The How, Why, and Where of Nuclear Waste,” the latest online event in ANS’s Educator Training offerings.

ANSI/ANS-8.26-2024, Nuclear Criticality Safety Engineer Training and Qualification Program, has been published and is available in the online ANS store. The standard, developed by the American Nuclear Society, received approval from the American National Standards Institute on November 21, 2024, and was published January 10, 2025.

This standard provides guidance for the content of training programs for nuclear criticality safety (NCS) specialists who are responsible for developing the analyses, controls, and safety documentation required for the safe handling of fissionable materials. This standard presents a matrix of training and qualification (T&Q) criteria based on education and experience combined with individual job functions and provides for qualification of experienced staff by documentation. The standard presents a flexible array of competencies for use by management to develop tailored T&Q programs applicable to site-specific job functions, facilities, and operations. This standard stresses the necessity of integrating standard training subjects with operational experience in order to qualify as an NCS engineer.

The International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025) will be taking place April 27–30 in Denver, Colo.

Registration for the meeting is now open. The host hotel—The Westin Denver Downtown—is also taking room reservations.

The nomination period for the 2025 Nuclear News 40 Under 40 list is now open. The list aims to highlight those who are putting in the work to become leaders in the nuclear community. All nominations must be submitted online by 11:59 p.m. (CST) on April 30, 2025.

The American Nuclear Society’s Chicago–Great Lakes Local Section hosted a presentation on February 27 on developments at the molten salt research reactor at Abilene Christian University’s Nuclear Energy Experimental Testing (NEXT) Lab.

A recording of the presentation is available on the ANS website.

The American Nuclear Society election is now open. Members can vote for the Society’s next vice president/president-elect and treasurer as well as six board members (four U.S. directors, one non-U.S. director, and one student director). Completed ballots must be submitted by 1:00 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.

The ITER organization (IO) recently published an article asking, “Have you ever wondered what it’s like inside an operating tokamak?” For speculative answers, the international nuclear fusion project turned to electrical engineer Michael Walsh, the new head of ITER’s Fusion Technology—Instrumentation & Control Division and previous head of ITER’s Diagnostics Division.

With the annual ANS election right around the corner, American Nuclear Society members will be going to the polls to vote for a vice president/president-elect, treasurer, and members-at-large for the Board of Directors. In January, Nuclear News published statements from candidates for vice president/president-elect and treasurer. This month, we are featuring statements from each nominee for the Board of Directors.