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Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.
Joel Serge Guidez (CEA), Andrei Rineiski (KIT), Gérard Prêle, Enrico Girardi (EdF), Janos Bodi, Konstantin Mikityuk (PSI)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 26-35
Following the previous European projects EFR and CP ESFR [1], a new Horizon-2020 project, called ESFR-SMART, was launched in September 2017 [2]. This project will consider the safety objectives envisaged for Generation-IV reactors and the update of European and international safety frameworks, taking into account the Fukushima accident. In accordance with these objectives, guidelines will be defined to drive ESFR-SMART developments, mainly simplifying the design and using all the positive features of the Sodium Fast Reactors (SFR), such as low coolant pressure; efficiency of natural convection; possibility of decay heat removal (DHR) by atmospheric air; high thermal inertia and long grace period before a human intervention is needed. In this paper, the safety objectives are presented in terms of defence-in-depth principle, extreme natural hazards to take into account, mitigation measures, etc. In this R&D framework, a set of new ambitious safety measures is introduced for further evaluation within the ESFR-SMART project. This proposed set aims at consistency with the main lines of safety evolutions since the Fukushima accident, but it does not yet constitute the final comprehensive safety analysis. This analysis will be done in the ESFR-SMART project to assess the relevance of the whole design in comparison to the final safety objectives. It should also be noted that some of these proposals are useful but could be replaced by other proposals in case of non-final validation. This first reassembly leads to a simplified reactor, forgiving and including a lot of passivity. This first version will be reinforced by the various tasks works in the forthcoming months.
