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
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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.
Florian Priester, Maximilian von Benthen, Robin Größle
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 3 | May 2024 | Pages 571-575
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2166779
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Based on good experience with Raman systems in general and the µRA systems in particular, we try to expand the capabilities and possible applications of Raman spectroscopy. A central aspect is the excitation wavelength since signal intensity and fluorescence background depend on that. Besides the common 532-nm laser (green), we used a 660-nm (red) and 405-nm (blue) laser, hence the name µRA-RGB. All three systems share the same basic principle (fiber coupling between laser, Raman head, and spectrometer) and only differ because of necessary adjustments for the excitation wavelength used, like the laser edge filter. As the original µRA system has already proved its capability to simultaneously detect all six hydrogen isotopologues, this first RGB study was limited to H2, D2, and equilibrated mixtures of both. With one of Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe’s proven LARA systems connected to the same gas mixing loop system, comparing the µRA systems against it was possible. This paper shows the results of the measurement campaign comparing all three µRA systems (405-, 532-, 660-nm excitation wavelengths) and the comparison to the well-established large Raman systems (LARA, 532 nm).