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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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!
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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.
Claire Luttrell, Tim Bigelow, Ethan Coffey, Ira Griffith, Greg Hanson, Arnold Lumsdaine, Alex Melin, Chuck Schaich
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 2 | September 2015 | Pages 402-406
Technical Paper | Proceedings of TOFE-2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-980
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ITER Electron Cyclotron Heating (ECH) system will produce a high-intensity beam of electromagnetic radiation for plasma heating. A total of 20 MW of power will be transferred from 170 GHz gyrotrons through multiple transmission lines. The transmission lines consist of evacuated, aluminum, circularly corrugated waveguides that will each transmit up to 1.5 MW for up to 3600 seconds. The waveguides, as well as mirror and polarizer components, will be actively water cooled in order to support the heat load from the long-pulse high-power radiation. Transmission lines will be as long as 200 meters, made up of individual lengths of 2 to 4 meter pieces that are joined by couplings. These couplings must retain high vacuum during operation, and maintain a very high degree of straightness between adjacent waveguide pieces. Analyses have been performed to examine various parameters of the design of these couplings, and confirm that stringent criteria are met during installation and operation. Further couplings are used to join the waveguide to other transmission line components, such as miter bends, expansion units, and switches. All of these are analyzed to confirm structural integrity during operation.