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Division Spotlight
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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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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.
Dr. Eric Loewen, Ph.D. joined the American Nuclear Society (ANS) in 1987, and since, has held a variety of governance positions within the Society. He began as the Publicity Chair for the University of Wisconsin Student Section, and later became the National Membership Committee Chair. He was elected ANS Treasurer and eventually became the 57th president of ANS in 2011.
Dr. Loewen has supported ANS efforts at the United Nations Climate Change Conferences (UNFCCC): Conference of the Parties (COP6), The Hague (2000); Conference on Sustainable Development (SD-9), New York (2001); and the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg (2002).
He served as editor for the Nuclear Technology special issue on “Medium-Power Lead-Alloy Reactors,” (September 2004), has authored a number of papers, and has spoken at many conferences.
As the 2005 ANS Congressional Fellow, Eric provided nuclear technology information to the U.S. Congress that led to inclusion of nuclear energy in TITLE XVI—CLIMATE CHANGE passed into public law in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Dr. Loewen graduated from Western State College (Gunnison, Colo.) with a B.A. in chemistry and mathematics in 1983, earned a commission in the U.S. Navy, and subsequently attended Navy Nuclear Power School and the Nuclear Prototype (1983-84). After his active Navy service he earned his Masters and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Loewen worked in private industry as Director of Nuclear Applications & Development, Molten Metal Technology, Inc. (1996-1998) and joined the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) as a Systems Integration Manager and Interim Department Manager. Currently, he is the Chief Engineer and Manager of the Chief Engineer’s Office at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) in Wilmington, N.C., where supports the activities to build a sodium-cooled with DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project called Natrium, the BWRX-300, Advanced Reactor Concepts and the current boiling reactor fleet.
Featured in Esquire Magazine’s 2005 and 2009 “Best and Brightest” issues, Dr. Loewen introduced nuclear science information to a different type of readership.
His U.S. Navy leadership roles included: Naval Prototype Nuclear Reactor School Instructor; B-2 Division Officer, Nuclear Quality Officer, Engineering Officer of the Watch, Surface Warfare Officer of the Deck aboard the USS LONG BEACH (CGN-9); and Commanding Officer of two Naval Reserve maintenance support units.
During his career, Eric received many honors and awards including: Molten Metal, Inc. Technology Star Award (1995); ANS Public Communication Award (2003); DOE Outstanding Mentor Award (2003); GEH CEO Award (2012); and, GE Regulatory Excellence Award (2010). To add to his list of accomplishments, he is also a Kissimmee Iron Man triathlete.
Read Nuclear News from July 2011 for more on Eric.
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Last modified September 28, 2023, 3:51pm CDT
