Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

ANS Winter Meeting – “Nuclear: The Foundation of Sensible Policy for Energy, Economy and the Environment”

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ANS 2015 coverIn less than a week, I will be joining about 1200 or more of my fellow members of the American Nuclear Society at the annual winter meeting. The gathering place is the Marriott Wardman Park; the dates are November 8-12.

This year the meeting theme is “Nuclear: The Foundation of Sensible Policy for Energy, Economy and the Environment”. It is a good time and place for policy discussions – the presidential campaign is in full swing, the meeting is being held in Washington, D. C. and there will be an international meeting in Paris in December that will include some critically important policy discussions about the role of nuclear energy in alleviating the effects of CO2 emissions.

Nuclear scientists and engineers will have plenty of opportunities to geek out in penetrating technical discussions following presentations with titles like the following.

  • Americium Oxide Space Radioisotope Power Systems: Cerium- Neodymium Oxide Surrogate Studies
  • Current Status of FeCrAl Alloys as an Accident Tolerant Cladding Alloy Class for Commercial Light Water Reactors
  • Neutron Activation Analysis with a Monte Carlo Simulation for Kidney Stones
  • The Remote Compositional Analysis of Molten Salt (KF- LiF-10wt%ZrF4) by Probe Assisted In-Situ LIBS System
  • Developing a Mathematical Scheme to Combine Single-Parameter Perturbation Results in Radiation Transport Calculations to Predict Joined Parameter Perturbations

Meeting attendees will also be able to participate in the following policy-oriented special sessions, which are led by a distinguished line up of invited speakers.

Special Sessions

  • Opening Plenary: Nuclear: The Foundation of Sensible Policy for Energy, Economy, and the Environment, Mon. a.m. (8:00-11:30 a.m.)
  • ANS President’s Special Session: Long-Term Operation of the U.S. Commercial Nuclear Fleet – Sustaining a National Asset, Mon. p.m. (4:30-6:30 p.m.)
  • General Chair’s Session: Nuclear Energy: The Federal and State Approach to Compliance with the Clean Power Plan (CPP), Tues. p.m. (4:30-7:00 p.m.)

If your special interest is communicating about nuclear energy, there are several discussions that you probably want to put on your meeting calendar.

  • Focus on Communications: Communicating with Policy Makers–Panel — Monday, November 9 1:00-2:30 p.m.
  • Focus on Communications: Meet the Media–Panel, Monday, November 9 2:30-4:00 p.m.
      Panelists:

    • Rod Adams (Atomic Insights)
    • Matt Wald (formerly New York Times)
    • Darius Dixon (POLITICO)
    • Roberta Rampton (Reuters)
  • ANS Speakers Bureau Workshop — Tuesday, November 10 6:30–8:30 p.m.
  • ANS Communications Workshop. Talking About Nuclear Energy With Policy Makers — Wednesday, November 11 4:00-6:00 p.m.

Other meeting highlights include the Sunday evening President’s Reception, the Tuesday Storm the Hill day led by the Young Professionals Congress, and the Tuesday Special Evening Event with the Capital Steps, which is included with the meeting registration compliments of the 2015 General Chair, Donald Hoffman.

I have been attending ANS meetings as often as possible since about 2004 and also during the period between 1992-1998. They are both valuable and interesting because they provide opportunities to learn, meet new people and catch up with old friends.

For another perspective about the benefits of attending ANS professional meetings, I recommend reading Brett Rampal’s recent post on ANS Nuclear Cafe titled ANS Meetings–Career Benefits of Attending.

I hope to see and speak with several of you during the meeting.