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Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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!
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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.
Hymie S. Shapiro
Nuclear Technology | Volume 95 | Number 3 | September 1991 | Pages 308-313
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT91-A34579
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) has performed probabilistic safety assessments (PSAs) of Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU) reactor support systems since 1975. AECL’s experience in the use of PSAs on support systems and the application of the PSA for the CANDU 3 are described. The PSA work reviews support system failures such as loss of service water and loss of instrument air as initiating events during full power and during plant shutdown conditions. The design changes resulting from this work, with respect to prevention of loss-of-coolant accidents and maintaining a long-term heat sink, are described. The use of PSAs is being initiated early in the design of the next-generation CANDU reactor (CANDU 3) to avoid the possibility of design changes and backfits during the construction phase of the project.
