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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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!
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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.
Antti Räty, Tommi Kekki, Merja Tanhua-Tyrkkö, Tiina Lavonen, Emmi Myllykylä
Nuclear Technology | Volume 203 | Number 2 | August 2018 | Pages 205-220
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1445402
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The objective of the study has been to verify the calculated residual activity in the decommissioning waste of the TRIGA Mark II–type research reactor FiR 1 in Finland. Knowledge of the radioactive inventory of irradiated materials is important in the planning of decommissioning activities and is essential for predicting the radiological impact to personnel and the environment. Measurements are performed for low active material samples from outer parts of the reactor. Methods include gamma spectrometric measurements, composition measurements with mass spectrometry, oxidation measurements of especially 14C in graphite, and full combustion measurements of lithium-enriched shielding materials. Results are compared to estimates calculated with a combined Monte Carlo model of the reactor and a point-depletion code modeling the irradiation history. Decommissioning waste consists mainly of ordinary concrete, aluminum, steel, and graphite parts. Only preliminary measurements of low active samples are reported so far, but the same methods will be used later for characterizing and classifying dismantling waste. Some discussion of characterization requirements and future sampling is also included.
