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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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!
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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.
Dr. Alan Waltar was the 40th president of the American Nuclear Society. He joined the ANS in 1967, at the same time he became a member of the Fuel Cycle & Waste Management and Operations and Power Divisions. He has chaired numerous committees at the Society, as well as several ANS Topical Meetings. In 1984, he was elected an ANS Fellow, the highest grade of membership offered by the Society.
Recently he retired as Senior Advisor and Director of Nuclear Energy for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. He was previously Professor and Head of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University. His earlier career included numerous managerial assignments with Westinghouse Hanford Company—mostly dealing with fuels and materials research and fast reactor safety. He served one year on the faculty of nuclear engineering at the University of Virginia.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington, a Master’s Degree in nuclear engineering from MIT and a Ph.D. in engineering science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Waltar helped found the World Nuclear University Summer Institute and has served as mentor, lecturer, and MC for all Summer Institutes, commencing in Idaho Falls (2005) and subsequently held in Stockholm, South Korea, Ottawa, Oxford University for six years, and Uppsala, Sweden in 2015. He also served as mentor, lecturer, and MC for the three World University Radiation Schools (twice in South Korea and in Qatar in 2014). He led a People-to-People Ambassadors Nuclear Delegation to China in 2007 and India in 2009.
He has consulted for numerous IAEA functions, the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Council, the Department of Energy, and several private nuclear firms. He was recently inducted into the Washington State Academy of Sciences.
He has many publications, and over 75 open literature scientific publications. “Radiation and Modern Life: Fulfilling Marie Curie’s Dream” was one of his books published.
Read Nuclear News from July 1994 for more on Alan.
Last modified October 17, 2018, 3:01pm CDT
