ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2025
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2025
Latest News
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.
Man-Sung Yim, Scott A. Simonson, Terry M. Sullivan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 114 | Number 2 | May 1996 | Pages 254-271
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35254
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Atmospheric releases of I4C from a generic engineered low-level waste (LLW) disposal facility and its radiological impacts are investigated. A computer model that describes microbial gas generation and the transport has been developed and used to analyze the generation of l4C contaminated gases and subsequent migration in a facility. Models are based on a chemical kinetic description of aerobic and anaerobic decomposition of organic materials coupled with attending models of oxygen transport and consumption within waste containers in a facility. Effects of radiolysis on gas generation are addressed based on the estimated dose rate for class B and C wastes. Estimates predict that annual atmospheric release of l4C due to atmospheric pressure variations could range between ∼2.6 × 108 and 5.5 × 1011 Bq as a result of microbial gas generation based on a volume of 48 000 m3 LLW disposed in a facility. The associated dose to a maximally exposed individual is estimated to be dominated by ingestion pathway and strongly depends on the fraction of the food imported from an uncontaminated outside area. Dose rates are expected to be <0.04 mSv/yr, considering a reasonable distance between the facility and the exposed population. The depletion through airborne releases of l4C inventory that is available for transport through other pathways is not expected to be a significant issue.
