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
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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.
Kiyoshi Yatsu, Leonid G. Bruskin, Teruji Cho, Minoru Hamada, Mafumi Hirata, Hitoshi Hojo, Makoto Ichimura, Kameo Ishii, Khairul M. Islam, Akiyoshi Itakura, Isao Katanuma, Yasuhito Kiwamoto, Junko Kohagura, Shigeyuki Kubota, Atsushi Mase, Yousuke Nakashima, Teruo Saito, Yoshiteru Sakamoto, Teruo Tamano, Yoshinori Tatematsu, Tokihiko Tokuzawa, Masayuki Yoshikawa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 35 | Number 1 | January 1999 | Pages 52-59
Invited Lectures | doi.org/10.13182/FST99-A11963826
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Potential confinement of an ICRF-heated high-ion temperature plasma in GAMMA 10 is experimentally studied. The potential confinement was shown from data of one-end plugging and both-end plugging. The waveform of end loss current and an analysis of end loss ion energies have also indicated potential formation and confinement. The central cell line density increases 50% by the potential confinement. Some radial losses were observed in the anchor and/or plug/barrier regions and a rate of the radial loss was measured by using the data from one-end plugging. Under an experimental condition, the radial loss rate was estimated to be about 3%. In order to reduce the radial loss, conducting plates were installed adjacent to the plasma in the anchor transition region. The density increase of 60 % was attained after installation of the conducting plates and a higher density increase can be expected in the near future. The density increase was 50% before installation of the conducting plates. Controllability and reproducibility of the potential confinement are also improved after installation of the conducting plates.