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
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
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.
John Graham joined ANS in 1970. He was a Fellow and served as treasurer before becoming the 41st president of the Society. He was active in the Aerospace Nuclear Science and Technology Division, as well as the Nuclear Installations Safety Division.
He was been engaged in nuclear safety for 60 years, including ongoing work with the Pacific Nuclear Council on promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear technologies, since 1997. Graham began a career with Westinghouse in 1969 as Manager of Nuclear Safety at Westinghouse Advanced Reactors Division, Madison, Wisc., with responsibility for safety of the Clinch River Breeder Reactor in Tennessee, among other projects. In 1985, he became the Licensing Manager for the Basalt Waster Isolation Project.
After he left Westinghouse, he was named the Director of Nuclear Safety for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) until 1992, when he became vice-president of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). He also worked for the U.K. Atomic Energy Agency as a senior scientist and for the Atomic Energy of Canada Research for British Nuclear Fuels as a Director of Safety. He was a recognized Fellow at Westinghouse.
He earned a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Wales, with graduate work at the University of Illinois and the University of London.
He wrote Fast Reactor Safety in 1971 and authored 25 other books.
Read Nuclear News profile from July 1995 for more on John.
Last modified November 7, 2018, 1:55pm CST
