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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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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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 W. Landis was a charter member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), joining in 1955. In 1971, he was elected as the 17th president of ANS. He was a Fellow of ANS. In 1996, he was named an “international nuclear statesman” when he received the American Nuclear Society’s Henry DeWolf Smyth (’18 *21) Award.
Dr. Landis was born on October 10, 1917. In 1950, Landis joined the Atomic Energy Commission and helped design nuclear power plants. In 1953, he began working for the Atomic Energy Division of the Babcock & Wilcox Co., and became head of its center for nuclear research. He contributed to the design of the Indian Point, N.Y., nuclear power station. In 1968, he began working with Gulf General Atomic Co. of San Diego, and in 1971 became the president.
From 1975 until he retired in 1993, Landis was a senior vice president and director of Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. in Boston. He was also president of Stone & Webster International.
Landis worked for many years in voluntary standards development for the energy industry. He served the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as in a number of capacities and was chair of its Board from 1975 to 1977. During his career, he also served as chair of the Public Safety Standards Group and as a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He was a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has also served on 27 government advisory committees.
The recipient of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Exceptional Public Service Award, and of numerous other accolades, John W. Landis was awarded ANSI’s Howard Coonley Medal in 1991 in recognition of his service to the nation as the driving force behind the development of consensus standards for the application and regulation of nuclear power. Landis was deeply committed to the peaceful uses of the atom.
The Landis Challenge, a fundraising campaign he sponsored, helped ANS propel its public education program to a new level. He was always committed to increasing the public’s understanding of nuclear science and technology. Later, although he may not have known then, his work on the Special Committee for Development helped to lay the foundation for ANS’ Center for Nuclear Science and Technology Information.
Landis graduated summa cum laude in 1939 from Lafayette. After serving in the Navy he studied physics at Princeton University at the graduate level, but did not complete a degree.
Dr. John W. Landis passed away on March 16, 2013.
Read Nuclear News from July 1971 for more on John Landis.
Last modified January 20, 2021, 12:17pm CST
