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
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
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.
Mark L. Bibeault, Stephen N. Paglieri, Dale G. Tuggle, Joseph R. Wermer, Arthur Nobile, Jr.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 54 | Number 2 | August 2008 | Pages 623-626
Technical Paper | Process Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1892
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A system containing a combination of getters (Zr-Mn-Fe, SAES St909; and Zr2Fe, SAES St198) was used to process the nitrogen-hydrogen-helium atmosphere in a glovebox used for handling metal tritide samples. During routine operations, the glovebox atmosphere is recirculated and hydrogenous impurities (i.e. CQ4, Q2O, and NQ3, where Q [is equivalent to] H, D, T) are decomposed (cracked) and removed by Zr-Mn-Fe without absorbing elemental hydrogen isotopes. If the tritium content of the glovebox atmosphere becomes unacceptably high, the getter system can rapidly strip the glovebox atmosphere of all hydrogen isotopes by absorption on the Zr2Fe, thus lessening the burden on the facility waste gas treatment system. The getter system was designed for high flowrate (> 100 l/min), which is achieved by using a honeycomb support for the getter pellets and 1.27-cm diameter tubing throughout the system for reduced pressure drop. The novel getter bed design also includes an integral preheater and copper liner to accommodate swelling of the getter pellets, which occurs during loading with oxygen and carbon impurities. Non-tritium functional tests were conducted to determine the gettering efficiencies at different getter bed temperatures and flowrates by recirculating gas through the system from a 6-m3 glovebox containing known concentrations of impurities.