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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.
B. Reneaume, G. Allegre, R. Botrel, H. Bourcier, R. Bourdenet, O. Breton, R. Collier, C. Dauteuil, F. Durut, A. Faivre, E. Fleury, I. Geoffray, G. Geoffray, L. Jeannot, L. Jehanno, O. Legaie, G. Legay, S. Meux, G. Paquignon, J. P. Perin, J. Schunk, M. Theobald, C. Vasselin, F. Viargues
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 1 | January 2011 | Pages 148-154
Technical Paper | Nineteenth Target Fabrication Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11517
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The cryogenic target assemblies (CTAs) designed for Laser Mégajoule (LMJ) experiments have many functions and have to meet severe specifications imposed by implosion physics, the CTA thermal environment, and the CTA interfaces with the Mégajoule laser cryogenic target positioner. Therefore, CTA fabrication uses many challenging materials and requires several technological studies. During the last 2 years, many developments have enabled better collection of comprehensive data on target constitutive materials and improvements in the fabrication of the CTA base, hohlraum, and aluminum turret.Studies have been carried out (a) to better characterize thermal properties of materials allowing optimization of the thermal simulation of the hohlraum, (b) to improve the CTA base fabrication process in order to optimize thermal studies of the LMJ experimental filling station (EFS), and (c) to determine coatings on the polyimide membrane that may limit the 300 K thermal effect on the microshell and increase the deuterium-tritium fuel lifetime.CTAs have been produced to evaluate fabrication knowledge, to characterize CTAs, to study air tightness, and to study filling and D2 ice layering on the EFS.An overview of the results that have been obtained during the past 2 years is presented in this paper.
