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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.
O. Vincent-Viry et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 3 | October 2011 | Pages 885-888
ICF | Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12559
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two major Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) projects are currently in progress. The US program at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), which has taken its first firing of a cryogenic target with DT fuel this year, mainly relies on cryogenic targets with capillary filled capsule. For the French ICF experiments carried out on the Laser MegaJoule (LMJ), the nominal filling path of cryogenic target assemblies (CTAs) is permeation of DT fuel through the microshell. The CEA Valduc tritium facilities, where targets are filled, are thus original installations with specific designs and technologies.This paper deals with the description of the tritium facilities for the LMJ cryogenic targets (twelve gloveboxes are needed to deliver 6 CTAs at the same time). After a short presentation of the whole gloveboxes chain, the paper will focus on the heart of the plant: the filling and cooling station (IRCC: 4 gloveboxes). 3 out of 4 of these gloveboxes (LCCR, LCTC and LCPC) are at the moment under commissioning at the manufacturer's site. The last one (LCGC) has been delivered to CEA Valduc and is currently under testing with deuterium.A description of the IRCC design and specifications is given as well as the main results of the commissioning process.
