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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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.
26th Technology of Fusion Energy Meeting (TOFE 2024)
Kieran is the CEO of Realta Fusion, an early-stage company developing fusion energy for applications in industrial process heat and power. He has extensive experience in start-ups and venture capital, particularly in the areas of energy, cleantech/climatetech, ag & food and industrial biotech. Kieran spent the first decade of his career with ICI and Johnson Matthey in the chemical industry in a range of technical and commercial roles across the globe – in Argentina, Germany, the UK and the USA. Following that, he moved into start-ups and worked on advanced fuels, bioplastics, waste-to-energy technologies, including the development of the first 100% bio-based Coca-Cola™ bottle.
In 2017, Kieran returned to his native country and launched the $24M Ireland Agtech Fund – a partnership between Finistere Ventures and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. In addition to his role with Realta Fusion, he is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kieran served on the board of a number of start-ups and has mentored innovators from academia as they commercialized technology emerging from their research. He has a degree in Chemical Engineering from University College Dublin, Ireland and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
About Realta Fusion
Realta Fusion is an early-stage fusion energy company which spun out of a large ARPA-e funded project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The company raised a successful seed financing round in May 2023 led by Khosla Ventures and is an awardee of the Department of Energy’s Milestone Fusion Program. Realta is developing compact magnetic mirror fusion generators as the lowest capex and least complex path to commercially competitive fusion energy. Realta is targeting the need to decarbonize industrial process heat as the fastest path to full-scale deployment of this technology. The company is based in Madison, WI.
Last modified April 5, 2024, 10:07am CDT
