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
Mathematics & Computation
Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
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.
J. Hope Forsmann
Nuclear Technology | Volume 193 | Number 1 | January 2016 | Pages 213-217
Technical Note | Special Issue on the RELAP5-3D Computer Code | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-141
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To support the functionality of RELAP5-3D for best-estimate reactor simulation code, a variety of utility programs were developed at Idaho National Laboratory. Conversion and upgrades of RELAP5-3D to FORTRAN 95 required the upgrades of these utility programs as well. Pygmalion (Pygi) and the RELAP5-3D Graphical User Interface (RGUI) are two of the utility programs that were upgraded and enhanced.
Pygi creates a copy of a RELAP5-3D input file with updated initial condition information. From the restart/plot file of the RELAP5-3D run of an input deck, Pygi obtains the final conditions for each component. It creates a new input file that replaces the original input file values with updated conditions. This provides an accurate and efficient means of creating new input decks with steady-state input conditions.
RGUI is an alternative to the command line interface for performing RELAP5-3D–related work. RGUI provides single-interface access to other RELAP5-3D tools such as Pygi. It is highly configurable, allowing the user to customize the environment. The interface runs on both Linux and Windows.
This suite of utility programs is continually being enhanced to provide better support for RELAP5-3D users. This technical note provides details of Pygi and RGUI functionality. Future plans for enhancements are also included.
