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Division Spotlight
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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.
Technical Session|Thermal Hydraulics
Friday, April 5, 2024|3:15–3:45PM EDT|Reber Room 135
Session Chair:
David Reger
Alternate Chair:
John J. Acierno
Session Organizer:
Carolina da Silva Bourdot Dutra (Penn State)
Dr. Joshua Hansel (INL) will present on Sockeye, a heat pipe analysis application based on the Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) finite element framework, specifically designed for modeling heat pipes in heat-pipe-cooled nuclear microreactors. This talk will cover Sockeye's transient heat pipe modeling capabilities, validation using data from the Michigan Single Sodium Heat Pipe (MISOH1) facility, and the importance of higher fidelity heat pipe models and accurate knowledge of internal dimensions for producing realistic transient behavior. Dr. Hansel will emphasize Sockeye's role in advancing the understanding and design of heat-pipe-cooled nuclear microreactors and discuss future development plans. *This presentation will be 30 minutes instead of 20 minutes.*
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A Sockeye Model of a Test at the Michigan Single Sodium Heat Pipe Facility
3:15–3:45PM EDT
Joshua E. Hansel (INL), Carolina da Silva B. Dutra (Penn State), Pei-Hsun Huang (Univ. Michigan), Taehwan Ahn (Univ. Michigan), Victor Petrov (Univ. Michigan)
Paper
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