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2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Empowering the next generation: ANS’s newest book focuses on careers in nuclear energy
A new career guide for the nuclear energy industry is now available: The Nuclear Empowered Workforce by Earnestine Johnson. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience across 16 nuclear facilities, Johnson offers a practical, insightful look into some of the many career paths available in commercial nuclear power. To mark the release, Johnson sat down with Nuclear News for a wide-ranging conversation about her career, her motivation for writing the book, and her advice for the next generation of nuclear professionals.
When Johnson began her career at engineering services company Stone & Webster, she entered a field still reeling from the effects of the Three Mile Island incident in 1979, nearly 15 years earlier. Her hiring cohort was the first group of new engineering graduates the company had brought on since TMI, a reflection of the industry-wide pause in nuclear construction. Her first long-term assignment—at the Millstone site in Waterford, Conn., helping resolve design issues stemming from TMI—marked the beginning of a long and varied career that spanned positions across the country.
W. Jeppson, Lewis D. Muhlestein, Sydney Cohen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 277-287
Overview | Special Section Content / Safety/Environment Aspect | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22819
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tritium breeder material selection for fusion reactors is strongly influenced by the desire to minimize safety and environmental concerns. Breeder material safety compatibility studies are being conducted to identify and characterize breeder-coolant-material interactions under postulated reactor accident conditions. Recently completed scoping compatibility tests indicate the following. 1. Ternary oxides (liAlO2, Li2ZrO3, Li4SiO4, and liTiO3) at postulated blanket operating temperatures are chemically compatible with water coolant, while liquid lithium and Li7Pb2 reactons with water generate heat, aerosol, and hydrogen. 2. Lithium oxide and 17Li-83Pb alloy react mildly with water requiring special precautions to control hydrogen. 3. Liquid lithium reacts subtantially, while 17Li83Pb alloy reacts mildly with concrete to produce hydrogen. 4. Liquid lithium-air reactions may present some major safety concerns. Additional scoping tests are needed, bot the ternary oxides, lithium oxide, and 17Li-83Pb have definite safety advantages over liquid lithium and Li7pb2. The ternary oxides present minimal safety-related problems when used with water as coolant, air, or concrete; but they do require neuton multipliers, which may have safety compatibility concerns of lithium oxide 17Li-83Pb make them prime candidates as breeder materials. Current safety efforts are directed toward assessing the compatibility of lithium oxide and the lithium-lead alloy with coolants and other materials.
