ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
National Meeting
2020 ANS Annual Meeting
June 8–11, 2020
Online Virtual Meeting
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2020
Jan 2020
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2020
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
April 2020
Latest News
U.S. nuclear capacity factors: Resiliency and new realities
In the early years of the Nuclear News capacity factors survey, any factor over 70 was deemed excellent; any factor under 50 was considered poor. By that standard, all but two operating U.S. power reactors chalked up excellent performance during 2017–2019. A record 809.4 TWh of electricity was generated in the United States from nuclear energy in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), besting the record of 807.1 TWh set in 2018.
Nuclear News staff developed the capacity factors survey in the early 1980s as a way to identify the most productive reactors in an expanding fleet. Fleet improvement was the industry’s self-identified goal, but no one could anticipate the startlingly rapid pace of improvement, spurred by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), which boosted fleetwide performance to highs that continue today.
The American Nuclear Society has been accepted as a Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future (NICE) partner organization, and joins 10 countries and 14 external partner organizations, to direct the global conversation nuclear energy can play in clean energy systems of the future.
Launched in 2018 at the ninth Clean Energy Ministerial, its primary goal is to move nuclear energy from traditional, nuclear-only forums to broader, cross-sector discussions about clean energy at the governmental level. NICE Future also offers regular webinars on nuclear and clean energy topics.
ANS President Marilyn Kray sent the attached letter to team members of the NICE Future Initiative lead countries in December 2019, detailing how ANS's mission and programs align with those of NICE Future, and requesting that NICE Future formally accept ANS's support and collaboration on shared goals.
ANS has partnered with other international nuclear societies and organizations to support the clean energy benefits of nuclear energy on the worldwide stage. This year, ANS Past President Donald Hoffman represented ANS at the International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants in Juan les Pins, France, where he signed the Clean Energy Declaration along with 40 additional nuclear societies. The Declaration called for policymakers to commit to doubling public investment in nuclear-related R&D and innovation within the next five years.
Weeks later, ANS presented the signed Declaration to the ministers of the Clean Energy Ministerial in Vancouver, Canada. The annual CEM Ministerial meeting is the only high-level political engagement where ministers gather to establish clean energy priorities, put forward innovative policies, and adopt concrete measures to accelerate the deployment of clean solutions and where the work is carried through year-round CEM initiatives and campaigns.
Last modified April 14, 2020, 6:54pm CDT
