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
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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.
Kazuaki Kito, Aydin Karahan, Yasuro Kimura, Pavel Hejzlar, Mujid S. Kazimi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 171 | Number 1 | July 2010 | Pages 27-37
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-A10770
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An advanced design of a Large Assembly with Small Pins (LASP) has been proposed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to increase the power density of boiling water reactors (BWRs) while keeping most of the operating conditions of current BWRs. LASP is based on replacing four traditional assemblies and the large water gap regions with a single large assembly having a 22 × 22 square lattice. In-assembly water rods accommodate control rods as well as provide help to the moderation of neutrons. Previous steady-state analysis showed that the LASP core allows for operation with 20% higher power density than the core with traditional 9 × 9 fuel assemblies. However, the void reactivity coefficient of the LASP core is 25% more negative and the steam flow rate is 20% higher than that of the reference core. In this study, the performances of the LASP core and reference core are compared for selected design-basis accidents and transients. Generally, the LASP design is found to behave in a manner similar to the traditional assemblies. First, the clad peak temperature during a large-break loss-of-coolant accident analysis satisfies regulatory criterion, and it is possible to preserve peak cladding temperature margin of the reference design if the capacity of the low-pressure core injection system is increased by 20%. Second, the generator load rejection with bypass failure and feedwater controller failure analyses show a decrease in dryout margin for the LASP core because of the combination of more negative void coefficient and increased steam load. However, this problem could be remedied by increasing the steam line flow area or allowing an additional flow restrictor in the steam line to attenuate the back propagating pressure wave in the main steam pipe following the turbine stop valve closure. Finally, the LASP core preserved the same level of margin to dryout as the reference core in the cases of four other evaluated events.