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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.
Leonardo Romero, Luis Moreno, Ivars Neretnieks
Nuclear Technology | Volume 110 | Number 2 | May 1995 | Pages 238-249
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35121
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The evolution and formation of a redox front in the near field of a repository for high-level nuclear waste is modeled, considering the effect of a time-dependent source term of the oxidizing species produced by radiolysis of the water entering the canister. The transport of oxidants in the clay surrounding the canister occurs by diffusion. In the rock, the transport of oxidants is modeled as occurring through fractures, with diffusion into the rock matrix. The results show that it is not probable that the redox front will ever move past the bentonite. If it does, the tips of the redox front may move <100 m over a million year period in a channel with a high flow rate.
