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
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.
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.
Daisuke Kawasaki, Joonhong Ahn, Paul L. Chambré, William G. Halsey
Nuclear Technology | Volume 148 | Number 2 | November 2004 | Pages 181-193
Technical Paper | High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3558
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Results are presented of an analytical study of mass release of a long-lived radionuclide from multiple waste canisters placed in a water-saturated repository in a two-dimensional array configuration. The radionuclide is assumed to be released congruently with the dissolution of the waste matrix. The concentration and release rate of the radionuclide from the downstream side of the repository region are numerically calculated to observe the effects of canister multiplicity and the leach time of the waste form. Peak values of the concentration and the release rate have been analytically formulated.For numerical illustration, the case of a Japanese repository concept is considered, where canisters containing vitrified wastes are placed in a water-saturated granitic rock. For the illustration, the nuclide 135Cs is chosen, which is characterized by a long half-life and high mobility in the assumed geologic media.The peak exit concentration becomes independent of the number of waste canisters in the flow direction if the number is sufficiently great. This peak value is a theoretical upper bound of the exit concentration, regardless of the number of canisters or the waste matrix leach time. The model is suitable for assisting in the design of a repository since the effects of the canister array configuration are reflected by the peak exit concentration and the peak release rate.
