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
Mathematics & Computation
Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
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.
Masabumi Nishikawa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 2 | February 2011 | Pages 350-362
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11651
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The tritium balance in a D-T fusion power reactor to assure a self-sustainable tritium system is discussed in this paper, comparing the amount of tritium consumed in the fueling cycle including the plasma vessel with the amount of tritium generated in the blanket system. It is determined that recovering tritium from the redeposition layer is highly effective in achieving tritium balance. It is also known from this discussion that having a burning plasma with an overall burning efficiency >0.5% is needed to maintain tritium balance. A burning efficiency >3 to 4% is even better because the tritium balance increases. It is also known that a first-wall material having an overall trapping factor >0.005 or that having an overall permeation loss ratio >0.0001 is not desirable because the tritium loss at the plasma vessel becomes too large to maintain the tritium balance. This discussion also finds that a blanket system with an overall breeding ratio of [approximately]1.1 is desirable early in fusion development to maintain a short tritium doubling time.