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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.
M. D. Shirk, B. T. Kelly, S. M. Haynes, B. C. Stuart, J. J. Sanchez, J. D. Moody, R. C. Cook
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 4 | May 2006 | Pages 818-821
Technical Paper | Target Fabrication | doi.org/10.13182/FST49-818
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Laser machining technology has been used to demonstrate the ability to rapidly perform jobs on all aspects of ICF targets. Lasers are able to rapidly perform modifications and repairs to the gold metal parts on hohlraums, make cuts in the delicate polymer parts of the hohlraum, and drill holes in the capsules to enable them to be filled with fuel. Lasers investigated in this work include 193 nm ArF and 248 nm KrF excimers and 810 nm chirped-pulse amplification Ti:Sapphire lasers. The excimer lasers showed a definite advantage in drilling and machining of polymeric materials and the ultrashort infrared pulses of the Ti:Sapphire laser were far better for the gold structures.
