From left, ANS CEO Craig Piercy moderates the second plenary of the Annual Conference, with panelists Seth Grae of Lightbridge, Jean-Luc Palayer of Orano USA, Sarah Riedel of Urenco, and Amir Vexler of Centrus.
Nuclear power currently appears to have the wind at its back, with growing demand for clean, reliable energy from industry (think data centers) and strong political support for new projects. But getting there still will require a lot of pieces to yet fall into place. It is, as American Nuclear Society CEO Craig Piercy said, a “chicken and egg” problem: Which comes first, the fuel to supply new reactors or the reactors that will create a demand for new fuel?
ANS CEO Craig Piercy and incoming ANS President Mark Peters at the ANS Annual Conference.
On Tuesday, during Mark Peters’s last days as the American Nuclear Society’s vice president/president-elect before assuming the presidency on June 4, he sat down with ANS CEO Craig Piercy for a Fireside Chat at the Annual Conference.
The MITRE CEO weighed in on his career path, what excites and worries him about the resurgence of nuclear energy, and juggling work-life balance with his new duties as ANS’s 72nd president.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s an important year,” he told Piercy.
BWXT’s Jonathan Stephens moderated the “Advancing Nuclear Powered Maritime Shipping” session, featuring, from left, Savannah Fitzwater of the DOE, Meg Albrecht of Lloyd’s Register, Scott Edwards of Core Power, Sanjay Mukhi of Deployable Energy, and Xiaodong Sun of the University of Michigan.
At the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference on June 1, an executive session covered the increasingly prominent subject of nuclear applications in the civilian maritime industry.
Panelists who presented during “Advancing Nuclear Powered Maritime Shipping” highlighted the fact that the commercial shipping industry, the nuclear industry, and government agencies are looking at nuclear power as a solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, 3 percent of which are attributed to commercial shipping.
Radioisotope power systems have enabled more than 90 percent of all non-human operational time on the lunar surface. (Source: Zeno Power)
The American Nuclear Society recently hosted a new webinar in its ongoing Educator Training series titled, “Powering the Lunar Frontier: Nuclear Energy for the Artemis Era.” This webinar featured a presentation from Harsh Desai, chief commercialization officer at Zeno Power and chair of the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Space Nuclear Taskforce.
From top left: Vice president/president-elect candidates Rebecca Steinman and Dan Stout; U.S. director candidates Sven Bader, Lane Carasik, Harsh Desai, Kirsten Laurin-Kovitz, Leah Parks, Sandra Sloan, Andrew Sowder, and Paul Wilson; and non-U.S. director candidates Deborah Hill and Catherine Prat.
The 2026 American Nuclear Society election is now open. Members can vote for the Society’s next vice president/president-elect as well as six board members (five U.S. directors and one non-U.S. director). Completed ballots must be submitted by 12:00 p.m. (CDT) on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
All ANS members have been emailed a unique access key from third-party election vendor ElectionBuddy. Each member can use their access key to vote once, and each vote will remain anonymous. Visit secure.electionbuddy.com/ballot to vote.