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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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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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.
L. C. Carlson, H. Huang, N. Alexander, J. Bousquet, M. Farrell, A. Nikroo
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 70 | Number 2 | August-September 2016 | Pages 274-287
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-226
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is on schedule to increase its shot rate after a congressionally mandated efficiency study was enacted to develop strategies for increasing the number of experiments fielded on NIF. The study set an ambitious goal to double the number of shots over a short 2-year period. Through a variety of higher-efficiency means, NIF has geared up and is on track to meet this goal. General Atomics (GA), as a major target and component supplier for NIF, has pursued a number of higher-efficiency studies and enabled higher-throughput systems on its own in order to meet the target requests for the increased shot rate while maintaining the same high-precision level required for every target. Five automation processes have recently been implemented at GA, adding to a large suite of automated metrology, robotics, and laser-machining capabilities.
