AI-powered imaging from Argonne reveals hidden flaws in stainless steel and could boost safety in critical industries
Advanced metal components produced through additive manufacturing can highlight the potential for cutting-edge technologies like AI-enhanced defect detection to ensure their reliability. (Photo: Shutterstock/MarinaGrigorivna)
Imagine you’re constructing a bridge or designing an airplane, and everything appears flawless on the outside. However, microscopic flaws beneath the surface could weaken the entire structure over time.
These hidden defects can be difficult to detect with traditional inspection methods, but a new technology developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is changing that. Using artificial intelligence and advanced imaging techniques, researchers have developed a method to reveal these tiny flaws before they become critical problems.
Judge stands outside INL’s new Sample Preparation Laboratory.
(Photo: INL)
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.
February 7, 2025, 2:57PMNuclear NewsAlexander Long and Sven Vogel Beamline scientist Sven Vogel installs a highly radioactive post-irradiated nuclear fuel sample into the sample chamber on Flight Path 4 (HIPPO) at the Lujan Center. The sample chamber is equipped with a robotic arm capable of precisely positioning and orienting samples within the pulsed thermal neutron beam originating from the spallation target. This advanced setup enables simultaneous neutron diffraction and Bragg-edge imaging, allowing researchers to analyze the structural and microstructural properties of irradiated nuclear fuels under controlled conditions. (Photo: LANL)
In materials science, understanding the unseen—how materials behave internally under real-world conditions—has always been key to developing new materials and accelerating innovative technologies to market. Moreover, the tools that allow us to see into this invisible world of materials have often been game-changers. Among these, neutron imaging stands out as a uniquely powerful method for investigating the internal structure and behavior of materials without having to alter or destroy the sample. By harnessing the unique properties of neutrons, researchers can uncover the hidden behavior of materials, providing insights essential for advancing nuclear materials and technologies.
Participants celebrate Texas A&M’s announcement about hosting SMR units from four nuclear companies. (Photo: Texas A&M)
Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp has announced that the university could soon become a home to small modular reactors from four advanced nuclear companies: Kairos Power, Natura Resources, Terrestrial Energy, and Aalo Atomics.
Photo: Cape Fear Community College
Cape Fear Community College (CFCC) in Wilmington, N.C., has appointed Kelli Davis its first Nuclear Technology program director. Davis has nearly 20 years of experience in nuclear power, including roles in chemistry, operations, and environmental supervision.
A ground breaking marked the beginning of advanced SMRs in Sweden. From left, Jenny Wirandi, head of engineering at OKG; Johan Svenningsson, chief executive of Uniper Sweden; Jacob Stedman, chief executive of Blykalla; Ebba Busch, Sweden’s minister for energy and business and deputy prime minister; and Per Erik Holsten, president of energy industries at ABB. (Photo: Marcus Beckford/Blykalla)
An official ground breaking on Monday for Swedish nuclear company Blykalla’s advanced reactor testing site marked a pivotal step in putting decades of research into action.
Concept art of NANO Nuclear’s ALIP MR-12 internal structure (skeleton). (Image: Nano Nuclear)
To better educate customers and stakeholders on its technology, NANO Nuclear Energy has opened a new demonstration facility in Westchester County, N.Y., that offers an up-close look at nonnuclear parts and components of the four microreactors the company has in development.
El Salvador foreign minister Alexandra Hill Tinoco and U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio signed a nuclear energy MOU. (Photo: X)
Officials from the United States and the Republic of El Salvador signed a memorandum of understanding Monday, agreeing to cooperate on strategic civil nuclear development.
In one of his first acts in office, U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio signed the MOU with El Salvadoran foreign minister Alexandra Hill Tinoco during his recent visit.
INL director John Wagner and University of Idaho president C. Scott Green at the SUPER agreement signing. (Photo: INL)
New Strategic Understanding for Premier Education and Research (SUPER) agreements signed by Idaho National Laboratory, Boise State University, and University of Idaho will foster collaboration among the institutions in advanced energy and cybersecurity projects. The five-year agreements are designed to open doors for research and development opportunities, while advancing existing research and development initiatives, including projects in nuclear energy and high-performance computing.
Concept art showing a FNPP design. (Image: Glosten)
A team of innovative companies has plans to bring floating nuclear power plants to U.S. ports.
Core Power, a maritime and nuclear technology company, announced in January a new partnership in with naval architecture company Glosten. The pair is working on a design for a floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) that could generate up to 175 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity annually and provide clean power to ships, equipment, and port vehicles, Offshore Energy reported.
OPG and Nordion employees at Darlington’s recently refurbished Unit 1, which has been modified to produce cobalt-60 isotopes. (Photo: OPG)
Ontario Power Generation in Canada announced that Unit 1 of its Darlington nuclear power plant, which has returned to service from refurbishment, is now producing the medical isotope cobalt-60. During refurbishment activities, OPG made modifications to the unit to allow it to produce Co-60, which is used to sterilize 30 percent of the world’s single-use medical devices, such as syringes, gloves, and implants.
Radiation is essential in medical diagnosis, cancer therapy, food irradiation, CT scans, security checks and detection, and many consumer products. It is ubiquitous and enormously beneficial to all forms of life on Earth.
January 31, 2025, 3:18PMNuclear NewsJong H. Kim, Gyuseong Cho, Kun-Woo Cho, Tae Soon Park & Keon W. Kang Despite its significant benefits, the public perception of radiation is generally negative due to its inherent nature: it is ubiquitous yet cannot be seen, heard, smelled, or touched—as if it were a ghost roaming around uncensored. The public is frightened of this seemingly creepy phantom they cannot detect with their senses. This unfounded fear has hampered the progress of the nuclear industry and radiation professions.