The theme of the 2021 ANS Virtual Annual Meeting—Breaking Through to Deployment—is a theme of action. It can take substantial momentum, shrewdly applied, to break through barriers.
The only constant, as the saying goes, is change. Since adopting the American Nuclear Society Change Plan 2020 at the ANS Winter Meeting in 2019, the Society has been in a state of seemingly constant change. Many important improvements have been implemented under the Change Plan—including to this magazine and our news site, ans.org/news—with an eye toward making ANS a more modern and adaptable organization. Some changes also have better enabled ANS to quickly respond to events that were out of our control and forced us to take on new endeavors (thanks, COVID‑19)—a prime example being the 2020 ANS Virtual Annual Meeting and subsequent virtual meetings that followed.
Part 2 of the ANS Board of Directors board-onboarding sessions is scheduled for Friday, May 21 from 12:00 to 2:00 pm EDT. The first hour will be a continuation of the diversity, equity, and inclusion training.
The United States is embarking on a new coordinated federal low-dose radiation research program. With guidance from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science will build a program that integrates the research of past decades, but without treading the same well-worn path. Instead, the new program will focus on how the scientific understanding of low-dose radiation can best be augmented, applied, and communicated.
Arndt
Wharton
The results are in. Steven Arndt, ANS Fellow and member since 1981, has been elected the next ANS vice president/president-elect, and W.A. “Art” Wharton III, ANS member since 2004, was elected for a second two-year term as treasurer.
Four candidates were elected to serve three-year terms as at-large members of the Board of Directors.
All ANS members are eligible to vote on the open leadership positions.
The 2021 ANS Election is open. This is your chance to help shape the future of your Society.
All ANS members were sent an email on February 22 with a unique username and password from Survey & Ballot Systems (SBS). If you did not receive this email or you do not have your election login information, please go to directvote.net/ANS, enter your email address that is on file with ANS, and your election login information will be emailed to you.
The American Nuclear Society recommended that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) consider recognizing the reliability and resiliency benefits that carbon-free nuclear electricity generation provides to the bulk power system. ANS President Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar and Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy submitted these comments in a letter during a FERC meeting on Thursday morning.
This is the fourth in a four-part series spotlighting the candidates for the upcoming 2021 ANS national election. Seven leadership positions are on the ballot.
Today we feature statements from the nominees for the Young Member director position, which was approved by the ANS Board of Directors in September.
The nominees are Benjamin A. Holtzman, of the Nuclear Energy Institute, an ANS member since 2007, and Catherine M. Prat, of Westinghouse Electric Company, an ANS member since 2011.
Ballots will be sent electronically on February 22 and must be submitted by 4 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday, April 6.
This is the third in a four-part series spotlighting the candidates for the upcoming 2021 ANS national election. Seven leadership positions are on the ballot.
Today we feature statements from the nominees for the U.S. director at-large positions. There are 10 candidates for four open spots on the ANS Board of Directors. The nominees are Harsh Desai, Nuclear Energy Institute; Julie G. Ezold, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Jess C. Gehin, Idaho National Laboratory; Kathryn D. Huff, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Jeffrey C. King, Colorado School of Mines; Stephen P. LaMont, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Jean-Francois Lucchini, Los Alamos National Laboratory; John M. Mahoney, High Expectations International; Jessika V. Rojas, Virginia Commonwealth University; and Tracy E. Stover Jr., Savannah River Nuclear Solutions.
Ballots will be sent electronically on February 22 and must be submitted by 4 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday, April 6.
Strategic federal investment in nuclear research and development is needed to rapidly deploy cost-effective, flexible energy choices for a zero-carbon future while strengthening national security and the economy.
The ANS Task Force on Public Investment in Nuclear Research and Development has just issued a report titled “The U.S. Nuclear R&D Imperative.” Visit ans.org/policy/rndreport/ to learn more and to read the report in its entirety.
The following article, originally published in the February 2021 issue of Nuclear News, describes the formation of the Task Force and the principles that guided its members as they developed specific nuclear R&D funding recommendations to ensure that a new generation of nuclear energy technologies is ready for deployment in 2030 and beyond.
This is the second in a four-part series spotlighting the candidates for the upcoming 2021 ANS national election. Seven leadership positions are on the ballot.
Today we feature statements from the nominees for treasurer.
The nominees are Ray Klann, an ANS member since 1991, who is a senior scientist in the National Security Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; and W. A. “Art” Wharton III, an ANS member since 2004, who is a vice president at Studsvik Scandpower. Wharton, the current ANS treasurer, is running for a second term.
Ballots will be sent electronically on February 22 and must be submitted by 4 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday, April 6.
This is the first in a four-part series spotlighting the candidates for the upcoming 2021 ANS national election. Seven leadership positions are on the ballot.
Today we feature statements from the nominees for vice president/president-elect. The nominees are Steven A. Arndt, an ANS Fellow and member since 1981, who is a senior technical advisor with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and Corey McDaniel, an ANS member since 2008, who is chief commercial officer at Idaho National Laboratory.
Ballots will be sent electronically on February 22 and must be submitted by 4 pm (ET) on Tuesday, April 6.
The first-ever ANS vice president candidate discussion forum will be held Wednesday, Feb. 17 from 6:00-7:00 pm EST. Register now for the event to hear directly from candidates Steven Arndt and Corey McDaniel.
Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar
Happy New Year! I sincerely hope that each of you found time to refresh and rejuvenate over the holidays, or at least have fun. Many indicators suggest that 2021 will be a better year than 2020, including a growing understanding of COVID-19 and its impacts and the availability of a vaccine. So many have suffered from job loss or even loss of businesses in 2020. Even for those of us fortunate enough to be healthy, gainfully employed, and able to work from anywhere thanks to Zoom and its competitors, uncertainty is still a challenging aspect of the pandemic.
The American Nuclear Society and Sociedad Nuclear Española (SNE) on December 10 signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) that creates a partnership between the two societies to cooperate in promoting the development of nuclear science and technology for peaceful purposes.
ANS congratulates the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp. on bringing the first Barakah reactor to full operational capacity.
Dunzik-Gougar
Piercy
The scheduled premature shutdown of Indian Point-3 will all but guarantee a massive increase in fossil fuel use, according to an op-ed written by American Nuclear Society President Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar and Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy that was published in the New York Daily News on November 30.
Indian Point-3 is slated to be shut down in April 2021, four years before its operating license expires.
The American Nuclear Society’s Board of Directors on November 19 voted to retire several outdated position statements, as requested by the Public Policy Committee. Among them are Position Statements #37 and #63, dating from 2010, which have been retired for lacking policy recommendations and for being redundant, as other position statements exist with language that better articulates the Society’s stance on those topics.
Candidates have been named to fill seven ANS leadership positions with terms beginning in June 2021.
Arndt
McDaniel
The candidates for a one-year term as vice president/president-elect are Steven A. Arndt and Corey McDaniel. Arndt, ANS Fellow and member since 1981, is a senior technical advisor with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and McDaniel, ANS member since 2008, is chief commercial officer and director of industry engagement at Idaho National Laboratory.
The elected candidate will succeed current ANS Vice President/President-Elect Steven Nesbit in June 2021, when Nesbit becomes president.
Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar
Last month I asked if you’ve ever wondered why nuclear isn’t commonly considered the choice for clean power production. I also provided what I hope will be useful information as you make the case for nuclear in discussions about clean energy. In addition to being the cleanest form of energy today, nuclear is also safe, reliable, and scalable. This month, let’s talk safety.
Like the term “clean,” “safety” can mean something different to everyone. As measured by the number of deaths per unit of electricity produced, nuclear is on the same order of magnitude as “renewables” and other low-carbon sources of energy.
Craig Piercy
Originally published in the September 2020 issue of Nuclear News.
This issue of Nuclear News is dedicated to highlighting advancements in health physics and radiation protection as well as the contributions of the men and women who serve in these fields. It comes at a time when COVID-19 is providing the entire world with an immersive primer on the science of epidemiology and the importance of risk-informed, performance-based behavior to contain an invisible—yet deadly—antagonist.