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Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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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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.
Y. Yasaka et al. (20R08)
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 2 | February 2007 | Pages 171-176
Technical Paper | Open Magnetic Systems for Plasma Confinement | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1342
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A direct energy converter (DEC) designed for thermal ions escaping from a fusion reactor consists of a cusp magnetic field and one or two stage decelerating electrodes. The electrons are deflected along the field lines and consequently separated from thermal ions that are not fully magnetized. The ions are led to the electrodes to produce DC power. For basic investigation of this type of DEC, the CUSPDEC, a small-scale experimental device is constructed and its characteristics have been investigated by using a low-energy plasma source. In this paper, the device is applied to the GAMMA 10 tandem mirror in order to investigate the capability of separation of charged particles as well as to demonstrate energy conversion from ions in much more reactor-relevant environment. The separation of electrons and ions with energies of the order of keV is achieved by using a slanted cusp magnetic field for the first time. It is also found that the separated ions are decelerated by the electric field in front of ion collectors and flow into the collectors at a high potential to produce DC power.
