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
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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.
Erik Johansson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 80 | Number 2 | February 1988 | Pages 324-336
Technical Paper | Advanced Light Water Reactor / Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34055
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Physics calculations have been performed for repeated plutonium recycling in tight pressurized water reactor lattices. These calculations made use of the transport theory code CASMO combined with a 70-group nuclear data library variant that was created recently. The calculational model, which performs well for normal thermal reactors, was tested against measured data for tight lattices from the Swiss reactor PROTEUS. The test results are reasonably good and the model was applied to tight lattice power reactors without any modification. Four reactor systems, three of which contain tight lattices with plutonium recycling, were treated. The fourth one represents recycling in a normal lattice. Calculated results are given for various parameters. Particularly important are the natural uranium savings in the tight lattice systems relative to net consumption in the normal lattice system. The values found are between 10 and 35% for an ∼50-yr operating time for each system. However, in some of the calculations, the void reactivity results are positive. For these cases, there may actually be positive values in reality—especially in the latter part of the time period studied— which would lead to restrictions and somewhat reduced savings.