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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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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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.
B. D. Middleton, M. S. Kazimi, Min Wah Leung
Nuclear Technology | Volume 166 | Number 1 | April 2009 | Pages 64-75
Technical Paper | Special Issue on Nuclear Hydrogen Production, Control, and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A6969
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A preliminary study is conducted that considers capturing carbon dioxide from fossil-fired power plants and combining it with nuclear hydrogen in order to produce alternative liquid fuels for transportation.We estimate the quantity of carbon dioxide that would be emitted by fossil-fired power plants in the future. We then use this information to determine how much ethanol or methanol can be created if enough hydrogen is made available. Using the quantity of hydrogen required and the thermodynamics of the reactions involved, we estimate the nuclear power that would be needed to produce the liquid fuel. This amount of liquid fuel is then used to estimate the effect of such a program on conventional gasoline usage, need for foreign oil, and decrease in CO2 emissions.We then review the Mobil M process, which is a technique for producing gasoline from methanol. Although methanol and ethanol can be used in cars today, the volumetric energy density of gasoline is much greater, and the infrastructure for gasoline is in place. For this purpose, we feel that the conversion from methanol to gasoline is worth investigating.
