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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2026
Latest News
Mirion announces appointments
Mirion Technologies has announced three senior leadership appointments designed to support its global nuclear and medical businesses while advancing a company-wide digital and AI strategy. The leadership changes come as Mirion seeks to advance innovation and maintain strong performance in nuclear energy, radiation safety, and medical applications.
Anthony L. Crawford (INL), David Estrada, Kiyo Fujimoto (Boise State Univ)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 1530-1537
This paper presents a test platform capable of applying representative in-pile thermal and monotonic, cyclic, and dynamic force loadings which induce target strain into representative in-pile components. The system’s form is that of two concentric linear delta robots and an intermediate vertical furnace. The enabled relative motion between the end effector platforms will result in enhanced performance compared to single delta or nearly any other Cartesian translational system by doubling the speed, quadrupling the workspace, and being able to actively prevent vibrational damage to its mechanical components. The employed force/torque sensors and motors are sized to apply/measure the target ranges, sensitivities, and bandwidths representative of in-pile loadings for objects of interest. The system has been designed to accommodate many in-pile geometries including a conventional (15mm OD x 12mm ID) fuel pin. Collet chucks attached to the force/torque sensors are designed to secure the pin ends as it transgresses through a furnace tube cavity allowing it to be thermally and/or force loaded. Such a configuration allows material characterization and sensor qualification/development to be performed. The system’s current configuration will have the ability to execute a comprehensive thermal and force loaded strain gauge study. Considered strain gauges in this future study will include conventional resistive strain gauges, weldable resistive strain gauges, and printed capacitive based strain gauges. The printed capacitive strain gauges being developed by this effort are of highest interest due to preliminary results indicating that their performance measures are more compatible with in-pile environments than their commercial counterparts. The test platform will be a critical element in validating the performance of the employed nuclear grade inks for aerosol jet printing, the printing and physical characterization of the printed structures, and the evaluation of sensor performance pre and post-irradiation.