ASME/NED Chair's Message

Congratulations! As a high quality hard copy of the October 2017 issue has been published, the third year of operation has been very successfully completed for the Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science. Representing the Nuclear Engineering Division (NED) of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), I cordially thank our editor, associate and guest editors, as well as all the reviewers for their exceptional services to the journal (see details in Prof. Igor Pioro's Editorial). I also sincerely thank our authors and readers for their loyalty and great contributions to this journal. Created by the ASME Nuclear Engineering Division and debuted in January 2015, the Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science has been comprised of research and development work from universities, national labs, and the nuclear industry. Over the last three years, the journal has been serving as an exquisite platform to share technical information internationally. This elegant platform is undoubtedly a great support for reliable nuclear power production, which is in turn indispensable to reduce environmental pollution and to mitigate relevant global challenges.

The Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science is one of the new shining stars in the NED ASME. Besides journal publications, ASME serves a wide-ranging technical community through quality programs in continuing education, training and professional development, codes and standards, research, conference publications, government relations, and other associated activities.¹ Founded in 1880 by a small group of industry leaders, ASME has grown through the decades to include more than 140,000 members from 151 countries. Among which, a little over 20% of these members are students. From college students and early career engineers to more experienced researchers or engineers, managers, and corporate leaders or executives, ASME's members are as diverse as the engineering community itself. With over 6000 members and over 1000 technical committee members, the NED is one of the largest divisions among ASME's 34 divisions.

The NED was originally organized in 1954, with the formal division inauguration on Mar. 29, 1955 (see more details in “60 Years in Motion: Short History of Nuclear Engineering Division”²). The NED currently has eight technical committees (Table 1), and nine Executive Committee (EC) members (Table 2). In July 2017, by strong international collaborations, the Chinese Nuclear Society (CNS), the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), and the NED ASME made a spectacular success for the 25th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-25). The ICONE-25 attracted more than 1100 participants and about 845 final papers. During the conference, about 210 and 800 people attended workshops and panel sessions, respectively. As a tradition, the NED has been sponsoring a strong student program at the ICONEs.

Currently, the NED has been working on the following planned tasks. First, by cooperating with CNS and JSME, the NED is taking the lead to make preparations for ICONE-26,³ which will be held in London (UK) in July 2018. Second, by a joint conference committee representing the NED and the Environmental Engineering Division (EED), the 2019 International Conference on Environmental remediation and radioactive waste Management (ICEM-2019) is being organized. Third, the NED has been preparing and will launch a new conference in less than two years, namely Advanced Clean Energy Symposium (ACES) 2019. This new conference will target to serve special needs of the community, as the nuclear industry has been evolving more significantly in recent years. Of course, the NED will continue to pursue necessary activities to improve education and acceptance of nuclear power for the public, policy makers, and the news media. The NED will continue to sponsor several important society-wide and division-level awards (Table 3). The NED will also continue to move forward for professional development and student programs. Finally, the NED will continue to promote nuclear engineering-related publications, including a new series of concise monographs on nuclear technology, and the Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science. This is an exciting time to be immersed in the ASME NED activities as mentioned earlier. I sincerely invite you to join us in exploring the energetic opportunities that lie ahead.

As the NED chair, it is a great honor for me to congratulate and thank the present and past members (Tables 2 and 4) of the NED Executive Committee. I also appreciate the support from all the volunteers and the ASME staff. It takes the collective contributions from all of us for the NED to be successful. With all the dedicated volunteers' support, I am very optimistic that the NED activities and businesses for serving the nuclear engineering and scientific community, including this journal, will continue to boom in future years.