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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.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.
Andrej Stritar, Borut Mavko, Janez Sušnik, Božidar Šarler
Nuclear Technology | Volume 101 | Number 2 | February 1993 | Pages 193-201
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT93-A34780
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the summer of 1991, the Krško nuclear power plant in Slovenia found itself in an area of military operations. This was probably the first commercial nuclear power plant to have been threatened by an attack by fighter jets. A number of never-before-asked questions had to be answered by the operating staff and supporting organizations. Some aspects of nuclear power plant safety under war conditions are described, such as the selection of the best plant operating state before the attack and the determination of plant system vulnerability and dose releases from the potentially damaged spent fuel in the spent-fuel pit. The best operating mode to which the plant should be brought before the attack is cold shutdown, and radiological consequences to the environment after the spent fuel is damaged and the water in the pit is lost are not very high. The problem of nuclear power plant safety under war conditions should be addressed in more detail in the future.