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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.
R. Sakamoto, H. Yamada, M. Kobayashi, J. Miyazawa, S. Ohdachi, T. Morisaki, S. Masuzaki, M. Goto, H. Funaba, I. Yamada, K. Ida, S. Morita, B. J. Peterson, N. Ohyabu, A. Komori, O. Motojima, LHD Experiment Group
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 58 | Number 1 | July-August 2010 | Pages 53-60
Chapter 3. Confinement and Transport | Special Issue on Large Helical Device (LHD) | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A10793
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An interesting high-density operational regime with an internal diffusion barrier (IDB) has been extended to the helical divertor configuration in the Large Helical Device. The IDB is characterized by steep density gradient in core plasma and the attainable central density exceeds 1 × 1021 m-3 at the moderate magnetic field [approximately]2.5 T while keeping relatively low density mantle plasma surrounding the core. In the IDB discharge, significant central pressure rise is observed, and the maximum central pressure attains 150 kPa by optimizing magnetic configuration. Such a high central pressure causes very large Shafranov shift, more than half radius, even at high magnetic field. Core fueling is absolutely essential for the IDB formation, and the IDB is reproducibly obtained by employing intensive multiple-pellet injections. The attainable density is restricted by lack of heat deposition at core plasma due to strong attenuation of a neutral beam in the high-density plasma.