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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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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February 2025
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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.
Decommissioning Environmental Science and Remote Technology 2021 Speaker
Ms Tadesse joined the NEA in January 2019 and is responsible for advancing information exchange and studies in the fields of radioactive waste management, nuclear facility decommissioning, and legacy management.
Prior to joining NEA, Ms Rebecca Tadesse served as the Chief of the Radiation Protection Branch in the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research at the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Ms Tadesse has over 27 years of domestic and international experience in the operation and radiation safety of research reactors, fuel fabrication facilities, nuclear power plants and biomedical research facilities. Ms Tadesse also served as Senior Policy Advisor for Commissioners and Senior Operational Assistant in the Executive Directors Office. In addition, Ms Tadesse was the Chief of the Material Decommissioning Branch, where she was responsible for managing the licensing and the oversight of complex decommissioning nuclear facilities. She also held numerous positions in the Reactor, Material and Fuels area at the NRC as Health Physicist, Project Manager, and Technical Assistant to the Director. Prior to her appointment with NRC, she worked for private industry and Federal Government as a Radiation Physicist at Common Wealth Edison Nuclear Corporation, General Atomics defense Contractor Company, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Ms Tadesse is a US national and holds a B.S. degree in Radiation Physics from Purdue University and an M.S. degree in Environmental Science/Policy from Johns Hopkins University
Last modified November 15, 2021, 1:23pm EST
