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Division Spotlight
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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Nuclear Technology
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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.
Derek R. Gaston, Benoit Forget, Kord S. Smith, Logan H. Harbour, Gavin K. Ridley, Guillaume G. Giudicelli
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 7 | July 2021 | Pages 931-953
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.1871995
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A myriad of nuclear reactor designs are currently being considered for next-generation power production. These designs utilize unique geometries and materials and can rely on multiphysics effects for safety and operation. This work develops a neutron transport tool, MOCkingbird, capable of three-dimensional (3D), full-core reactor simulation for previously intractable geometries. The solver is based on the method of characteristics, utilizing unstructured mesh for the geometric description. MOCkingbird is built using the MOOSE multiphysics framework, allowing for straightforward linking to other physics in the future. A description of the algorithms and implementation is given, and solutions are computed for two-dimensional/3D C5G7 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology BEAVRS benchmark. The final result shows the application of MOCkingbird to a 3D, full-core simulation utilizing 1.4 billion elements and solved using 12 000 processors.
