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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.
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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.
Youssef A. Shatilla, Eric P. Loewen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 151 | Number 3 | September 2005 | Pages 239-249
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT05-A3646
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The need for a new steady-state fast-neutron reactor has been the subject of numerous national meetings and discussions. This type of reactor will be able to open new frontiers of research for Generation IV reactors, the Space Propulsion Program, and the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative. With the confluence of these three programs' fast-spectrum testing needs, we set out to conceptualize a new system by looking at previous successful reactor concepts. This paper presents a new concept for a fast-spectrum test reactor that is horizontal in orientation, with individual pressure tubes running the entire length of the scattering-medium tank filled with a liquid heavy metal. This approach for a test reactor will provide more flexibility in refueling, sample removal, and ability to completely reconfigure the core to meet different users' requirements. Full core neutronic analysis of more than 14 combinations showed that a large hexagonal steam-cooled U-10Zr fuel, with a core power of 267 MW(thermal), produced a fast flux (>0.1 MeV) of 1.3 × 1015 n/cm2s averaged over the whole length of the irradiation channel. A depletion run with an initial enrichment of 20 wt% 235U had a flat reactivity curve for the first 180 days of cycle due to in-core breeding. Although considerable neutronic optimization and a thermal-hydraulic analysis remain to be performed, it appears that a reactor core with this innovative geometry could meet future fast flux testing needs.
