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Division Spotlight
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.
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!
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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.
Weston M. Stacey
Nuclear Technology | Volume 200 | Number 1 | October 2017 | Pages 15-26
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1345585
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Georgia Tech concept of the Subcritical Advanced Burner Reactor (SABR) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) transmutation reactor and supporting analyses to date are summarized. SABR is based on the fast reactor physics and technology prototyped in Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) and proposed for the Integral Fast Reactor and the PRISM Reactor and on the tokamak fusion neutron source physics and technology that will be prototyped in ITER. Preliminary fuel cycle calculations indicate that subcritical operation would enable a proliferation-resistant fuel reprocessing cycle that would safely accommodate fuel with up to 100% TRU content and that introduction of SABRs in a 1-to-3 power ratio with light water reactors would reduce the required SNF high-level waste repository capacity (defined on the basis of decay heat released) by a factor of 10 to 100. Preliminary dynamic safety calculations indicate that SABRs could be shut down to the decay heat level by turning off the plasma heating power without core damage in loss of heat sink, loss of flow, and loss of power accidents, but that additional decay heat removal capability is needed in the case of total loss of primary or secondary system pumping power.