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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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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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.
2022 ANS Annual Meeting
Senior Policy Fellow
Argonne National Laboratory
Mr. Dickman is a Senior Policy Fellow with Argonne National Laboratory in Washington DC.
He has held senior managerial positions at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. Early in his career he managed environmental research projects in remediating of nuclear weapons testing areas, and disposal of highly radioactive materials. He also managed waste characterization and transportation programs for the Waste Isolation Pilot Project and served as principal technical advisor to the Director for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste.
He is a member of the National Academy of Science’s Nuclear and Radiation Sciences Board, holds leadership positions in the American Nuclear Society, and is the President Elect of the World Council on Isotopes. He serves as an advisor to the Japanese Government on the decommissioning of the Fukushima accident site.
Mr. Dickman received his M.S. in Natural Sciences in Nuclear Chemistry and Physics from the University of Wyoming, and his B.A. in History (of Science) from the University of Denver.
Last modified April 14, 2022, 5:54am PDT
