Honors and Awards

Nomination of Candidates for Tommy Thompson and George C. Laurence Awards

The Tommy Thompson Award for Nuclear Safety is presented annually to persons who have made outstanding contributions to the enhancement of nuclear installations safety. The award is named in honor of Professor Theos J. (Tommy) Thompson of MIT, who made outstanding contributions to nuclear reactor safety, including being the principal author of a pioneering textbook on the subject.

The George C. Laurence Award for Pioneering Contributions to Nuclear Safety is presented in honor of Dr. George C. Laurence who was one of the pioneers in the Canadian nuclear program and who showed remarkable insight by early introducing the risk-informed concept and establishing it, in his capacity of President of the Atomic Energy Control Board, as an integral part of the Canadian nuclear safety regulatory system. The George C. Laurence Award is given occasionally based on the availability of qualified candidates. ANS members are invited to nominate candidates for the above-mentioned awards. To be considered for 2007 awards, nominations should be received prior to December 1, 2006 and should be accompanied by a brief description of each candidate’s accomplishments. Candidates are not required to be members of ANS, nor are they required to be residents or citizens of the USA.

The selection process is a two-step procedure, namely:

(1) a preliminary screening based on the brief description of the candidate's accomplishments submitted by the nominator;

(2) a more in-depth selection from those candidates who passed the initial screening. This latter process requires submission of a number of letters of recommendation stating the reasons why the candidate is qualified for the award.

Please send nominations to: Jan Van Erp at vanerp@AOL.com

2008 Tommy Thompson Award for Nuclear Safety

Professor Agustin Alonso is the recipient of the 2008 Tommy Thompson Award. Professor Alonso stood at the cradle of nuclear energy in Spain and Europe.  He has dedicated during some fifty years, his professional career to research and teaching, particularly in the area of nuclear safety.  From 1956 to 1980 he served as director of nuclear safety in the Junta de Energia Nuclear (Spanish Nuclear Energy Board) where he was responsible for creating and developing the Spanish regulatory system; from 1994 to 2001, he served as commissioner of the Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (Nuclear Regulatory Organization of Spain).

Dr. Alonso served and continues to serve as a highly valued advisor to numerous international organizations, including the OECD’s Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).  He currently is a member of the IAEA’s International Nuclear Safety Group (INSAG).  His teaching activities as a full professor at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid have extended over two generations of students and were not limited to Spain but included many of the member states of IAEA.  Among his many accomplishments may be counted the fact that he introduced PSA (probabilistic safety assessment) research and teaching in Spain.  Dr Alonso’s research resulted in over 200 peer-reviewed publications and includes his contributions to international research programs on the phenomenology of severe accidents.

Professor Alonso is a graduate of the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology (ORSORT), having attended its first international session on Nuclear Hazards Evaluation during 1959-1960.  He is a long-term member of ANS and NISD, a founding member and past President of the Spanish Nuclear Society and a fellow of the European Nuclear Society.