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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
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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March 2025
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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.
2021 CONTE Virtual Meeting Plenary Session Speaker
Lisa Brattin is senior vice president, Workforce Training, Education and Proficiency, at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) in Atlanta, Georgia.
INPO, sponsored by the commercial nuclear industry, is an independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the highest levels of safety and reliability - to promote excellence - in the operation of nuclear electric generating plants.
Ms. Brattin was elected senior vice president in November of 2017. She is responsible for Industry Training & Proficiency, including Accreditation Assistance and Support. She is also the executive director for the National Academy of Nuclear Training, which provides leadership courses and seminars and NANTeL e-learning courses for the commercial nuclear power industry and its supplier.
Ms. Brattin began her INPO career in software development and infrastructure management in 1988 after serving as an IT consultant for Barlow Rand in New York City and Mutual and Federal Insurance of South Africa.
After holding a variety of IT management positions, Ms. Brattin served as the manager of NANTeL, the nuclear industry’s e-learning software for computer-based training. She led the NANTeL team through a time of growth as the use of the e-learning portal increased throughout the nuclear industry. Ms. Brattin was promoted to director of Industry Learning and was responsible for the infrastructure and learning services delivered to and shared by INPO with the nuclear power industry.
In November 2014, Ms. Brattin was elected vice president of Talent and Culture. She spearheaded the effort to define and describe INPO’s cultural needs and successfully implemented a plan to transform INPO’s culture. In addition, she was responsible for INPO’s talent strategy, which optimized and shaped the workforce during a time of extensive retirements and industry downsizing.
Ms. Brattin holds an Executive M.B.A. from Emory University and a B.B.A. from Oglethorpe University. She attended the Strategic Human Resources Planning Program at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, the Reactor Technology Course for Utility Executives at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Delivering Information Services Program at Harvard University.
Last modified December 7, 2020, 4:46pm EST
