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
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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.
Brian L. Smith
Nuclear Technology | Volume 175 | Number 3 | September 2011 | Pages 663-680
Technical Paper | NURETH-13 Special / Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT11-A12514
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Within the framework of the responsibilities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), three international writing groups (WGs) were set up in 2003 to produce state-of-the-art reports on specific aspects of the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in addressing nuclear reactor safety (NRS) issues. Three reports followed on (a) the use of best practice guidelines in producing reliable computational results, (b) the status of the validation database for single-phase CFD applications to NRS, and (c) the extensions needed to the codes for application to two-phase NRS problems. The present paper summarizes the contents of the second of these documents and reports on the more recent activity of establishing a Web portal to act as a dynamic database for the material contained in the document. The Web pages can be reached via the NEA Web site and have been constructed using Wiki software, which enables users to readily find information they need in their respective application areas via active links, as well as to interactively support the maintenance of the site by contributing to the regular updating of the material. As a result of this endeavor, an up-to-date access point to the validation databases cataloged by the WG has been established, and a means has been provided for users to contribute with new material, thus keeping the information topical.