Chair's Message

Dear NN-TG Member:
 
Welcome to the newest Technical Group with the American Nuclear Society, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Technical Group!

The ANS Board of Directors approval of the formation of this NN-TG was announced in a recent letter from Eric Loewen, President of ANS, of July 27, 2011. The formation of this TG follows an approximate two year process that evaluated the benefits of its formation, and eventually to the submission of a petition to the Society to form this new Technical Group. This recent work builds on the outstanding work performed by the Special Committee on Nuclear Nonproliferation (SCNN) that was formed under the leadership of Vanice Perin of the Washington DC Local Section in September 1993.

Early activities of the SCNN included the 1994 Panel on Disposition of Excess Plutonium, and presentations on NPT Renegotiation and Cooperation with Former Soviet Union for Nuclear Materials Safeguards. In 1995 SCNN issued the Blue Ribbon Report on Protection on Management of Plutonium, whose authors included Glenn Seaborg and Ambassador Richard Kennedy. More recent activities have included sponsoring 15 sessions at ANS meetings during 2009 and 2010, initiating a special edition of Nuclear News that contained 5 articles on Nonproliferation issues, and initiating or contributing to five ANS Position Statements.

The SCNN was an ANS special committee appointed by the President of the Society, and the committee as well as all its members had to be reappointed each year by the President of the Society. The transition from a special committee will permit all interested ANS members to contribute and participate in the activities of this Technical Group, which plans to become a full Division in the near future.

Welcome to website of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Technical Group, and we look forward to your contributions to and support of the important work that this group plans to continue.



John E Gunning