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 Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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.
Aimé Bruggeman, Johan Braet, Sven Vanderbiesen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 48 | Number 1 | July-August 2005 | Pages 102-107
Technical Paper | Tritium Science and Technology - Tritium Science and Technology - Detritiation, Purification, and Isotope Separation | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A889
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A technically & economically sound technology for water detritiation is mandatory for the future of fusion. This technology is expected to be based on water electrolysis and Liquid Phase Catalytic Exchange (LPCE). LPCE requires an efficient hydrophobic catalyst. SCKCEN invented and developed such a catalyst in the past, which is prepared by depositing platinum on an activated charcoal carrier and mixing it with polytetrafluorethylene as a hydrophobic material. In combination with an appropriate wettable packing, different batches of this catalyst performed very well during years of extensive testing, allowing us to develop the ELEX process for water detritiation at inland reprocessing plants. Recently we succeeded in reproducing this catalyst and preparing a slightly different but clearly ameliorated type. By extrapolation these new results would allow us to obtain, at 40°C and under typical but conservative operating conditions, a decontamination factor of 10000 with a column of less than 3 meters long. Such performances would make this catalyst an excellent candidate for application at JET or ITER. To confirm the performances of our improved catalyst for a longer period of time and in a longer column, we are now starting experiments in a newly built installation and we are collaborating with ICSI, Romania.