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
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
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.
D. Post, T. Ando, A. Antipenkov, S. Chiocchio, J. Dietz, G. Federici, M. Gouge, Yu. Igitkhanov, G. Janeschitz, A. Kukushkin, P. Ladd, J. Mandrekas, E. Martin, D. Mitin, H. Nakamura, H. Pacher, W. Stacey, M. Sugihara, R. Tivey
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 594-600
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963003
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ITER power and particle control system is designed to exhaust the 300 to 400 MW of alpha and auxiliary heating power and the 5 × 1020 He atoms per second created by the fusion reactions, to control the density and to fuel the plasma. The power and particle control system consists of a single null poloidal divertor, a set of active pumps with a total pumping speed of ~ 200 m3/s, and gas puffing and pellet fuelling systems. Atomic processes are used to spread out the heating power over the first wall and divertor walls, thereby reducing the peak heat loads on the divertor plates to acceptable levels. The divertor has a “vertical target” plate configuration and tight baffling to maximize the effectiveness of the atomic processes for energy losses in the divertor and to maximize the neutral pressure in the divertor and minimize the backflow of neutrals from the divertor to the main chamber.
