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 Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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.
F. Bonelli, L. V. Boccaccini, B.-E. Ghidersa, Q. Kang, L. Savoldi, R. Zanino
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 3 | October 2015 | Pages 507-511
Technical Paper | Proceedings of TOFE-2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-985
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The first 3D thermal-fluid-dynamic and structural analyses done for the design and pre-test assessment of the so-called Thermo-Cycle Mock-up (TCM), reproducing about 0.3 m2 of a flat first wall (FW) with relevant helium cooling channels, are presented, based also on previous computational and experimental activities conducted at KIT but limited so far to a single cooling channel with straight heated length. The TCM is the first of a series of FW mock-ups presently under construction, to be tested starting from 2015 in the large HELOKA facility at KIT. Here, the fluid dynamics in the 180° turns of the TCM cooling channels is investigated together with the effects of heat transfer between neighboring channels, when the plate is subject to steady-state heat fluxes in the range 0.3-0.5 MW/m2. Based on the computed temperature maps, the stresses in the TCM and the related damage figures for the main failure modes (i.e., ratcheting and creep/fatigue) are assessed. These are compared with allowable limits in code and standards for the qualification of the TCM design and related to the prediction of the behavior of the component in the actual fusion environment.