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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.
Fan Li, Vladimir Barabash, Warren Curd, Giovanni Dell'Orco, Babulal Gopalapillai, Keun-Pack Chang, Steve Ployhar, Fabio Somboli
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 2 | August 2011 | Pages 781-785
Safety & Environment | Proceedings of the Nineteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE) (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12480
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
ITER is a joint international fusion facility to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power for future commercial electric power facilities. ITER is being designed and constructed in France with support from seven domestic agencies. In accordance with the Article 14 of the ITER Agreement, ITER shall observe French Regulations. Among various existing regulatory documents the French Decree 99-1046 concerning pressure equipment and the French Order dated 12th December 2005 concerning nuclear pressure equipment formulate the requirements for design, manufacture and operation of the pressure and nuclear pressure equipment.The ITER Tokamak Cooling Water System (TCWS) is comprised of 4 primary heat transfer systems and their supporting systems. TCWS provides the cooling water to client systems for heat removal during plasma operations and provides the primary confinement for the radioactive substances entrained in the cooling water. The main sources of radioactive substances include Tritium, Activated Corrosion Products (ACP), 14C isotope, 16N and 17N isotope. The concentration of these radioactive substances is a key parameter for the classification of TCWS equipment in accordance with French regulations.The paper will describe the process for classifying TCWS pressure equipment in accordance with French Regulations.
