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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.
Roger Raman
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 50 | Number 1 | July 2006 | Pages 84-88
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1223
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Steady-state advanced tokamak (AT) scenarios rely on optimized density and pressure profiles to maximize the bootstrap current fraction. Under this mode of operation, the fueling system must deposit small amounts of fuel where it is needed and as often as needed, so as to compensate for fuel losses, but not to adversely alter the established density and pressure profiles. Conventional fueling methods have not demonstrated successful fueling of AT-type discharges and may be incapable of deep fueling long-pulse edge-localized-mode-free discharges in ITER. The capability to deposit fuel at any desired radial location within the tokamak would provide burn control capability through alteration of the density profile. The ability to peak the density profile would ease ignition requirements, while operating ITER with density profiles that are peaked would increase the fusion power output. An advanced fueling system should also be capable of fueling well past internal transport barriers. Compact toroid (CT) fueling has the potential to meet these needs, while simultaneously providing a source of toroidal momentum input. Experimental data needed for the design of a CT fueler for ITER could be obtained on NSTX using an existing CT injector.