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
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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.
Eliseo Visca, Enrico Di Pietro, Giancarlo Ceccotti, Giovanni Mercurio
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 689-693
Divertor Design and Experiments | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963016
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The design of plasma-facing components for ITER, as for any of the envisaged next-step machines, relies on the use of junctions for coupling the armour materials to the heat sink and cooling tubes. A suitable diffusion bonding process for manufacturing the high heat flux components of ITER have been developed. The process parameters for defining the bonding technology are reported. The dependence of the load applied on the sample, the bonding temperature, dwell time and surface preparation were studied and the results applied in the construction of the mockups. Results of the shear tests performed to define the process parameters for different heat sink materials, such as CuCrZr alloy and DS copper, are reported. The S65 beryllium grade used (supplied by Brush and Wellman) had cubic and castellated finishing to increase its high heat flux resistance. A shear strength of about 150 MPa was obtained by using an interlayer of electrolytic copper deposited on the activated beryllium surface. This electrolytic deposition method gave good results and reproducibility so it was decided to use copper as interlayer in order to obtain a silver-free joint. After selecting the best process, medium-scale mockups of high heat flux components for testing on the electron beam facility were manufactured. The actively cooled mockups had a 50×30×8mm beryllium armour (castellated and non-castellated), with two kinds of heat sink material (Glidcop A125 and CuCrZr alloy). Both the samples produced for the shear tests as well as the mockups have been submitted to ultrasonic inspection to detect bonding defects.
