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
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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.
Hikaru Amano
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 28 | Number 3 | October 1995 | Pages 797-802
Tritium Safety | Proceedings of the Fifth Topical Meeting on Tritium Technology in Fission, Fusion, and Isotopic Applications Belgirate, Italy May 28-June 3, 1995 | doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A30502
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Uptake of atmospheric tritiated methane by plants was examined in a preliminary study. Several potted plants which differ in their photosynthetic processes were exposed to tritiated methane in an enclosed chamber. The plants were exposed to a total of 185 MBq of tritium in the form of methane. The methane carrier gas was 630 ppm. The potted plants exposed to tritiated methane included edible Chinese mustards (Komatsuna in Japanese), Indian corns, cactuses. Each pot was covered with a plastic bag to prevent the reaction of methane gas with the potted soil. Only the leaves and branches were exposed to tritiated methane. Tritium was detected in the exposed leaves of C3 and C4 plants, not only in the water soluble form but also in the organically bound tritium form. There seems to be no difference in the transfer mechanism of tritium from methane to C3 and C4 plants. CAM plants which have different photosynthetic processes, did not accumulate HTO. This means that the transfer of tritiated methane to C3 and C4 plants is general phenomena not depending on the difference of the photosynthetic processes among the C3 and C4 plants.