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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.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
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Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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. H. Kim, S. M. Jun, J. S. Kim, K. S. Lim, J. L. Kim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 168 | Number 2 | November 2009 | Pages 349-353
Neutron Measurements | Special Issue on the 11th International Conference on Radiation Shielding and the 15th Topical Meeting of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division (Part 2) / Radiation Protection | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A9207
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Thermal neutron calibration fields are under preparation using a graphite pile and eight americium-beryllium neutron sources at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). Eight Am-Be sources, of [approximately]37 GBq each, are located in a 1.5- × 1.5- × 1.5-m3 graphite pile that has four neutron source mounting geometries to make different intensities at the reference irradiation positions. At this time two kinds of neutron calibration fields are categorized according to the position of the neutron sources in the graphite pile. These neutron fields were simulated by using the MCNPX code and quantified experimentally by using the Bonner sphere spectrometry system of KAERI. The neutrons of a low energy below the Cd cutoff energy of 0.5 eV were 68.6 and 95.9% of the total neutron fluence, respectively. The ambient dose equivalent rates H*(10) were 30.6 and 167 Svh-1 , and the personal dose equivalent rates Hp(10) were 31.7 and 174 Svh-1 . These can be used to determine the response of thermal neutron measuring devices.