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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.
Z. Köllö, C. G. Alecu, H. Moosmann
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 3 | October 2011 | Pages 972-975
Measurement, Monitoring, and Accountancy | Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12578
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In a tritium handling facility it is important to know the volume of the parts of the system for accurate accountancy. The usual methods to determine volumes have several disadvantages concerning contamination issues and accuracy.In this work a novel method is used to determine volumes. The method does not require any liquid or precisely known reference volume. It is simple and the uncertainty of the measurement is lower than 1% for volumes from 10 cm3 to 10 dm3.In this paper the principle of the volume determination device (VDD) designed and built at the Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe (TLK) is presented, together with a detailed uncertainty calculation. Also the first measurements with the VDD are discussed in detail.
