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Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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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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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.
E.T. Cheng, D.K. Sze, J.A. Sommers, O.T. Farmer III
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 3 | May 1992 | Pages 2001-2008
Safety, Recycling, and Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A30015
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Materials recycling aspects including contact gamma dose rates and cooling times were investigated for the first wall, blanket, and shield components of future fusion power reactors. Candidate structural mate-rials studied include ferritic steel, vanadium alloy, and SiC ceramic material. Required cooling times to reach hands-on recycling and impurity levels at given cooling times were estimated for the blanket components made of the various candidate structural materials. The relationship between the specific activity limits of radioactive materials for shallow-land burial (U.S. 10CFR61 Class C) waste disposal and the corresponding contact dose rates was examined. Scenarios for waste material management of fusion reactor components were suggested considering the materials recycling and shallow-land waste disposal options. Achievable impurity levels in vanadium ingot and titanium crystal bar were reviewed, and compared to desired levels for hands-on recycling. Methods to improve the purity levels were discussed.
