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.
Brian Terranova, Andrew Whittaker, Len Schwer
Nuclear Technology | Volume 204 | Number 2 | November 2018 | Pages 119-130
Critical Review | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1472506
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) NUREG-0800, “Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition—Design of Structures, Components, Equipment, and Systems,” and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) DOE-STD-1020-2016, “Natural Phenomena Hazards Analysis and Design Criteria for DOE Facilities,” provide guidance for the design of exterior reinforced concrete roof and wall panels against wind-borne missile impact. These documents point to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.76, “Design-Basis Tornado and Tornado Missiles for Nuclear Power Plants”; RG 1.221, “Design-Basis Hurricane and Hurricane Missiles for Nuclear Power Plants”; and ANSI/ANS-2.3-2011(R2016), “Estimating Tornado, Hurricane, and Extreme Straight Line Wind Characteristics at Nuclear Facility Sites,” for the definition of missiles and impact velocities. Empirical formulas are used to calculate local responses of reinforced concrete walls and slabs impacted by missiles, where these formulas were calibrated using test data that are no longer available for reinterpretation. This critical review analyzes the accuracy of these empirical formulas using data collected from impact tests conducted by the Electric Power Research Institute and Calspan Corporation in the 1970s. Schedule 40 pipes are used as the impacting missile for this review because it is referenced in both NRC and DOE guidance. Outer and effective diameters of the pipe are used to compare empirical predictions and experimental results. None of the empirical relationships predict the local response of reinforced concrete walls and slabs impacted by tornado- and hurricane-borne missiles with the level of accuracy expected for analysis of a nuclear power plant. More accurate design equations are needed, which could be developed by impact analysis of reinforced concrete panels using numerical models that have been rigorously validated using test data. New experiments will be needed to enable validation of numerical models.