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Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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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.
M. Sakuma, R. Kozma, M. Kitamura
Nuclear Technology | Volume 113 | Number 1 | January 1996 | Pages 86-99
Technical Paper | Reactor Operation | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35201
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fractal analysis is applied in a variety of research fields to characterize nonstationary data. Here, fractal analysis is used as a tool of characterization in time series. The fractal dimension is calculated by Higuchi’s method, and the effect of small data size on accuracy is studied in detail. Three types of fractal-based anomaly indicators are adopted: (a) the fractal dimension, (b) the error of the fractal dimension, and (c) the chisquare value of the linear fitting of the fractal curve in the wave number domain. Fractal features of time series can be characterized by introducing these three measures. The proposed method is applied to various simulated fractal time series with ramp, random, and periodic noise anomalies and also to neutron detector signals acquired in a nuclear reactor. Fractal characterization can successfully supplement conventional signal analysis methods especially if nonstationary and non-Gaussian features of the signal become important.
