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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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Feb 2025
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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.
Sunday, May 15, 2022|1:00–5:30PM EDT
Ellwood
The Kraken framework is a computational reactor analysis framework developed at VTT for both safety analyses and general research and educational purposes. With the neutronics side building heavily on the in-house Monte Carlo code Serpent, the framework couples novel Finnish solvers for core physics but also couples to state-of-the-art third pary solvers. The Python based multi-physics driver Cerberus and the Python package of pre- and post-processing methods KrakenTools aim to simplify core analysis tasks. Work is ongoing to license the framework free of charge for non-commercial use with distribution through the OECD/NEA data bank and the RSICC.
Agenda:
1. Motivation behind Kraken development.
2. Current solvers in the Kraken framework.
3. KrakenTools, a Python package to help working with Kraken solvers.
4. Coupled multi-physics calculations with Kraken.
5. Demonstration: SMR operating cycle analysis with Kraken.
6. Current status of licensing and distribution.