ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2025
Latest News
Colin Judge: Testing structural materials in Idaho’s newest hot cell facility
Idaho National Laboratory’s newest facility—the Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL)—sits across the road from the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF), which started operating in 1975. SPL will host the first new hot cells at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) in 50 years, giving INL researchers and partners new flexibility to test the structural properties of irradiated materials fresh from the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) or from a partner’s facility.
Materials meant to withstand extreme conditions in fission or fusion power plants must be tested under similar conditions and pushed past their breaking points so performance and limitations can be understood and improved. Once irradiated, materials samples can be cut down to size in SPL and packaged for testing in other facilities at INL or other national laboratories, commercial labs, or universities. But they can also be subjected to extreme thermal or corrosive conditions and mechanical testing right in SPL, explains Colin Judge, who, as INL’s division director for nuclear materials performance, oversees SPL and other facilities at the MFC.
SPL won’t go “hot” until January 2026, but Judge spoke with NN staff writer Susan Gallier about its capabilities as his team was moving instruments into the new facility.
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These committees have been established to pursue the aims of the Society. Committee members are appointed by the ANS president, with the exception of the Nominating Committee which is appointed by the Board of Directors.
From time to time, or as the need arises, the president will establish special committees with specific terms to examine Society or industry-wide issues.
Professional Divisions of the American Nuclear Society can also play an important role in ANS governance.
ANS Economic Imperative Student Design Project: "The Economic Imperative: From Building to Manufacturing"
The ANS Board of Directors has approved the launch of a nationwide student design project, aimed at using mass production technology to achieve the economic imperative.
Mass production designs need to be pre-licensed. Production engineers can then take these into the factories, and fabricate large modules that can be assembled quickly on site. Mass production lines could produce a steam generator a day; a pressure vessel per week. We do not need new reactor concepts or new fuel cycles. This will use innovation, change and transition to use existing technology to produce competitive products.
In addition, innovative designs will undoubtedly emerge from a fresh look at water-cooled reactor technology by young engineers already steeped in computerized design, instrumentation and control, from large high technology industries such as aerospace.
Last modified February 6, 2025, 1:05pm CST