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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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Feb 2025
Jul 2024
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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.
Technical Session|Panel|Sponsored by ETWDD
Tuesday, June 13, 2023|3:15–5:00PM EDT|Marriott 3
Session Chair:
Sola Talabi
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Todd R. Allen
Panelists will include representatives of The Pennsylvania State University's Post-Industrial and Midwest Nuclear Alliance initiative. Addressing global warming and global energy poverty are inextricably tied because developing energy infrastructure with fossil options exacerbates climate change. The United Nations (UN) agreement on a "Framework Convention on Climate Change" identified the need for worldwide nuclear power increase from 400 GW to 1000 GW by 2050, with up to 30% of this generation deployed in developing countries. For context, meeting the UN's recommended nuclear power increase, requires approximately five hundred 300Mwe nuclear plants to be deployed across Africa alone. Responsible deployment and operation of nuclear power requires an assurance that safety and security requirements are well established and operationalized. These assurances have historically been provided in developed nations by well-established institutions and robust regulatory frameworks. However, these approaches were initially developed in the 1960s and 70s, based on the risks that were relevant to existing large light water reactors. Considering 1) advanced reactors and current enabling technologies mitigate and also make certain risks no longer credible, and 2) emerging nations may lack these types of institutions and frameworks, it is imperative that new paradigms are developed to enable the safe and secure deployment of nuclear power in developing countries based on a recognition of the technology to the extent that they ameliorate the capability limitations. This panel will explore the historical reasons why nuclear power has not been more widely deployed in developing countries through the lens of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Diversity of markets, Equity in terms of vulnerability to climate change, and Inclusion in terms of participation and benefitting from nuclear power. It will also address how these historical challenges may now be addressed with advanced reactor technology and also the need for increased and meaningful engagement.
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