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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!
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.
Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS-2022) Plenary SPeaker
Deputy Director of the Planetary Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate
NASA
Mr. Eric Ianson is currently the Deputy Director of the Planetary Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. In this role, he supports the exploration of the solar system, including missions to and research of the planets, moons, and small bodies (asteroids, comets, Kuiper belt objects, etc). He also serves as the Program Director for the Mars Exploration Program and the Radioisotope Power Systems Program.
From 2015 to 2019, Eric was the Associate Director of Flight Programs in the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. In this role, he oversaw all NASA Earth Science satellite and airborne programs and projects, as well as the data systems that house and distribute the data from these programs and projects. From 2013 to 2015, he served as the Deputy Associate Director for the Earth Science Projects Division at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). This position also included responsibility as Deputy Program Manager for both the Earth Systematic Missions Program and Reimbursable Projects Program. He has previously served as a Program Executive at NASA Headquarters, beginning in 2004, for several Earth Science missions, including OCO, OCO-2, Aquarius, and SMAP. He also served as Acting Program Manager for the Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) Program from 2004 to 2008 and led efforts to transition this role to Langley Research Center. Eric also served on a detail to GSFC, as Mission Manager for the IRIS project, a Heliophysics mission that was successfully launched in June 2013.
Eric has experience working with various NASA Centers and has participated in international and interagency partnerships.
Prior to joining NASA, Eric worked for the Department of Defense for 14 years, involved in program and project oversight for the US Navy on missiles, combat systems and associated equipment.
Eric received a B.S degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester and an M.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California. He is also a graduate of the “Leadership for a Democratic Society” program at the Federal Executive Institute.
Last modified April 6, 2022, 10:50am EDT
