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Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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!
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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.
James A. Turso, Robert M. Edwards, Jose March-Leuba
Nuclear Technology | Volume 110 | Number 1 | April 1995 | Pages 132-144
Nuclear Reactor Safety | Burnup Credit | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35102
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A “hybrid” reactor /simulation (HRS) testing arrangement has been developed and experimentally verified using The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) TRIGA Reactor. The HRS uses actual plant components to supply key parameters to a digital simulation (and vice versa). To implement the HRS on the Penn State TRIGA reactor, an experimental or secondary control rod drive mechanism is used to introduce reactivity feedback effects that are characteristic of a boiling water reactor (BWR). The simulation portion of the HRS provides a means for introducing reactivity feedback caused by voiding via a reduced order thermal-hydraulic model. With the model bifurcation parameter set to the critical value, the nonlinearity caused by the neutronic-simulated thermal/hydraulic coupling of the hybrid system is evident upon attaining a limit cycle, thereby verifying that these effects are indeed present. The shape and frequency of oscillation (∼0.4 Hz) of the limit cycles obtained with the HRS are similar to those observed in operating commercial BWRs. A control or diagnostic system specifically designed to accommodate (or detect) this type of anomaly can be experimentally verified using the research reactor based HRS.
