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Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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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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.
S. K. Combs et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 3 | September 2013 | Pages 513-520
Fusion Technologies: Heating and Fueling | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 2) Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A19144
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A compact pellet injector has been built/tested at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for the TJ-II stellarator. The design is an upgraded version of that used for the ORNL injector installed on the Madison Symmetric Torus (MST). It is a four-barrel system equipped with a cryogenic refrigerator for in situ hydrogen pellet formation, a propellant valve system for pellet acceleration (speeds ~1000 m/s), pellet diagnostics, and an injection line. On TJ-II, it will be used as an active diagnostic and for fueling. To accommodate the plasma experiments planned for TJ-II, pellet sizes significantly smaller than those used for the MST application are required. The system has been initially equipped with four pellet sizes, with the gun barrel bores ranging between 0.4 and 1.0 mm. The most challenging technical issue is achieving reliable operation with the smallest pellet size. The system is described, highlighting the new features added since the original MST injector was constructed. Results from laboratory testing are presented and discussed, including the range of pellet sizes and speeds that will be available for initial experiments on TJ-II and the expected reliability of delivering intact pellets to the plasmas.
