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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.
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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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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. Nogami, W. Guan, M. Fukuda, H. Tanigawa, A. Hasegawa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 3 | October 2015 | Pages 607-611
Technical Paper | Proceedings of TOFE-2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-929
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To improve the fatigue properties evaluation of the joint region of the fusion reactor blanket, the effect of the non-uniform distribution of the microstructure and strength on the fatigue properties of the electron beam weld joint of the F82H steel was investigated by the fatigue test and the numerical simulation of the deformation under the test. The fatigue life of the joint was approximately 10−20 % of that of the base metal. The fracture under the fatigue test occurred around the over-tempered heat affected zone (the region with the lowest hardness). One of the reasons of the shorter fatigue life of the joint could be the higher crack growth rate induced by the peak strain around the over-tempered heat affected zone due to the non-uniform deformation.
