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
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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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Feb 2025
Jul 2024
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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.
March 16, 2022|11:30AM–1:00PM (12:30–2:00PM EDT)
Available to All Users
ANS's Education, Training & Workforce Development Division presented a panel of representatives from academia, industry, and government on what is happening to prepare the future nuclear workforce for the construction and operation of next generation reactors planned to be built in the late 2020s and early 2030s.
The Dr. Kathryn Huff of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy presented DOE current and future programs to support the creation of a robust future workforce for the construction and operation of advanced reactors.
Dr. Wesley Hines of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville described how the university is preparing students for the future generation of reactors and how other nuclear engineering programs can best prepare their students for next generation reactors.
And Nick Touran of TerraPower spoke about initiatives to ensure the availability of workforce needed to build and operate new power plant designs as well as perspectives on what universities and government can do to ensure a next generation reactor ready workforce.
Panelists
J. Wesley HinesUniversity of Tennessee, Knoxville
Kathryn HuffDepartment of Energy,Office of Nuclear Energy
Nicholas TouranTerraPower
Daniel Carleton (Moderator)Terrestrial Energy USA, Inc.
