ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
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!
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.
Duck-Hoi Kim et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 2 | August 2013 | Pages 126-130
ITER | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 1), Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A18066
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Since the decision of blanket redesign by 2007 ITER design review, the blanket system is being developed in the framework of Blanket Integrated Product Team (BIPT) composed mainly of ITER Organization (IO) and procuring parties. Korean Domestic Agency (KODA) is mainly contributing to the design and development of blanket Shield Block (SB). In particular, KODA is supporting the design activities including electromagnetic, thermo-hydraulic and thermo-mechanical analyses to complete the final design of blanket shield block. For the manufacturing of a blanket shield block conventional fabrication techniques based on drilling, milling and welding of stainless steel forged blocks have been adopted. As a consequence of the manufacturing feasibility study, key fabrication techniques to be verified beforehand have been identified and successfully developed in collaboration with related industries. The pre-qualification program of the fabrication and testing of Full Scale Prototype (FSP) is in progress. Until now the material development of 316L(N)-IG stainless steel forging has been successfully completed, and the fabrication of FSP is on-going. Even though the procurement of blanket First Wall (FW) was withdrawn at the 9th meeting of the ITER Management Advisory Committee, the participation of the 2nd pre-qualification program of EHF (Enhanced Heat Flux) FW small scale mock is being valid for securing core engineering technologies. At present the fabricated mock-ups are waiting for high heat flux test with the Electron Beam (EB) gun test facility being newly built in Korea. This paper provides the current status of design and relevant R&D activities of the blanket system to secure key technologies and to fulfill our promise to ITER project.