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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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.
R. W. Moir, H. F. Shaw, A. Caro, Larry Kaufman, J. F. Latkowski, J. Powers, P. E. A. Turchi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 2 | August 2009 | Pages 632-640
Laser Fusion-Fission Hybrid | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST18-8166
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Molten salt with dissolved uranium is being considered for the Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion Fission Energy (LIFE) fission blanket as a backup in case a solid-fuel version cannot meet the performance objectives, for example because of radiation damage of the solid materials. Molten salt is not damaged by radiation and therefore could likely achieve the desired high burnup (>99%) of heavy atoms of 238U. A perceived disadvantage is the possibility that the circulating molten salt could lend itself to misuse (proliferation) by making separation of fissile material easier than for the solid-fuel case. The molten salt composition being considered is the eutectic mixture of 73 mol% LiF and 27 mol% UF4, whose melting point is 490°C. The use of 232Th as a fuel is also being studied. (232Th does not produce Pu under neutron irradiation.) The temperature of the molten salt would be ∼550°C at the inlet (60°C above the solidus temperature) and ∼650°C at the outlet. Mixtures of U and Th are being considered. To minimize corrosion of structural materials, the molten salt would also contain a small amount (∼1mol%) of UF3. The same beryllium neutron multiplier could be used as in the solid fuel case; alternatively, a liquid lithium or liquid lead multiplier could be used. Insuring that the solubility of Pu3+ in the melt is not exceeded is a design criterion. To mitigate corrosion of the steel, are fractory coating such as tungsten similar to the first wall facing the fusion source is suggested in the high-neutron-flux regions; and in low-neutron-flux regions, including the piping and heat exchangers, a nickel alloy, Hastelloy, would be used. These material choices parallel those made for the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) at ORNL. The nuclear performance is better than the solid fuel case. At the beginning of life, the tritium breeding ratio is unity and the plutonium plus 233U production rate is ∼0.6 atoms per 14.1 MeV neutron.