Countries review the potential of nuclear power

Benedict Bahner
ASME NEWS

Since power outages and other energy issues have been big news during the past year, the United States and other countries across the globe are starting to take another look at nuclear power. Next spring, ASME International and the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers will sponsor the 10th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 10) — the premier conference for the world's nuclear engineering community.

The conference, which will take place April 14-18 in Arlington, Va., is being put together by a number of world-renowned leaders in the nuclear field. These top-drawer organizers include U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.; Corbin McNeill, president and CEO of Exelon; Katsuya Tomono, executive advisor of Tokyo Electric Power Co.; and Bernard Esteve, executive vice president of France's Framatome ANP.

Other conference planners include Joe Colvin, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute in the United States; Kunihisa Soda, executive director of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute; and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of Austria's International Atomic Energy Agency.

Technical sessions addressing the conference's theme — Nuclear Engineering: Engineering Today the Power for Tomorrow — will be divided into tracks focusing on areas including plant operations and maintenance; components reliability and materials issues; structural integrity; license renewal; life extension; and decommissioning and decontamination.

Technical sessions will also examine next-generation systems; safety and reliability; thermal hydraulics; nuclear fuel cycle; radwaste management; and codes, standards and regulatory issues.

A student paper competition, with the goal of encouraging students to draft and submit technical papers on nuclear engineering, will also be held during the conference.

For a complete look at ICONE 10's technical program, visit ASME.ORG, www.asme.org/ icone10. For more information on the conference, contact John Bendo, ASME Engineering Programs, (212) 591-7055; e-mail: bendoj@asme.org.

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