The American Nuclear Society Winter Meeting kicks off this coming Sunday 10/28/17 at the Marriott Wardman Park with a week’s worth of high tech sessions and hobnobbing about nuclear energy.

Check out or download the program (PDF file) for location and times for all topical, regular and special sessions as there is something for everyone. Here are a few highlights.

Note: the Twitter Hash Tag for the meeting is #ANSMeeting  Please use it to share with others what you are hearing and seeing at the conference. Follow it for conference news.

Sunday is full of committee meetings so if you are a member of one of the technical divisions or on one of the governance committees, this is your day to roll up your sleeves to work on what’s next for ANS. Many of these meetings are open so if you have an interest in getting involved, these are the places to show up.

All About Communications

I’ll be giving a presentation at the 2 PM meeting on Sunday of the ANS Social Media Team on the subject of “success factors for pro-nuclear blogs.”  Here’a  copy of my slides PDF file

This is an open meeting for people interested in working with social media as volunteers on ANS projects and programs. It is a planning meeting for that purpose and not a conference session or discussion forum. The location is Washington Room #5.

At 4 PM the ANS Public Communications Committee will meet. If you have any advice for the committee on how the society should be communicating to policy makers, the media, and the public, please post them in the comments.  I’ll pass it along.

At 6 PM Sunday one of the high points of the conference is the ANS Presidents’ Opening Reception. Not only will you get to meet all your friends from past conferences, you also get to eat, drink, chat with friends, and talk to the exhibitors. Bring your business cards. It is a great session for networking.

Staying with the communications theme, on Tuesday there are two back-to-back sessions in the afternoon on communications with policy makers and the news media. Both sessions are scheduled to be in the Hoover Room starting at 1 PM.

Learn What It Takes to Be in a Nuclear Energy Start-up

If you are excited about nuclear entrepreneurs and start-ups working on advanced nuclear energy projects, then starting at 4:30 PM Tuesday:

General Chair’s Special Session: Career Opportunities for Next Generations of Nuclear Engineers and Scientists in Advanced Reactor Markets
Chair: Ty Troutman (Bechtel)
Location: Marriott 3 Time: 4:30-6:40 pm

Over the last decade there have been many start-up companies in Advanced Reactor technologies -both fission and fusion. This panel of industry executives from
start-up companies will discuss what it takes to start a technology development effort, access challenges (financing, resources, and organization), and identify
opportunities for young generations of nuclear engineers and scientists.

Speakers: Patrick McGrath (Associate Director of Technology, ARPA-E)
Leslie Dewan (CEO, Transatomic Power)
David Dabney (CEO, StarCore)
Harlan Bowers (President, X-Energy),
Mike Laufer (CEO, Kairos Power)

Note that the U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E program has just announced a $20 million fund to identify and develop innovative technologies that can enable designs for lower cost, safer, advanced nuclear reactors.  If this area of the industry interests you, don’t miss this session!

Meet & Greet Readers of this Blog

I’ll be at the conference from late Saturday afternoon through Tuesday evening. I look forward to meeting readers of this blog and hearing their stories about what’s happening in their worlds about nuclear energy.

Tweet to me @djysrv  if you want to say “hi.” I’ll open up my feed to receive direct messages from people who don’t follow it.

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