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
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!
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.
Young-Jin Kim, Sang-Tae Kim, Dong-Seok Im, Nam-Yong Jung, Yaung-Su Kim, Seong-Yeon Yoo
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 2 | August 2013 | Pages 357-361
Safety, Environment, and Tritium Handling | 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-A18103
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the cooling water system (CWS), being infrastructure for large research facility, one of the important issues is the operation reliability, and then the minimizing of operation and maintenance costs. For optimum design, we studied the cooling loops for pulse and continuous operations of clients, volume and inside piping structure of storage tanks, two-step heat exchanger, safety devices and energy conservational operation of the CWS. During commissioning, the flow rate shortage due to increase of pump head by rise of client pressure drop was resolved as the operation of a stand by pump. The unexpected water pressure hunting occurred at an ion cyclotron ranges of frequency (ICRF) inlet port was stabilized by exchange of the starting system of motor and transfer of a constant flow rate valve from the water outlet port to the inlet port of the ICRF. We confirm that a polishing system, a first neutral beam injection cooling loop and a plasma facing component baking system can be stably operated in the upgrade step of clients. To improve the coefficient of performance and stability of operation in chiller, we will develop the new header, decreasing the gap of inlet temperature of cooling towers.