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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.
K.-M. Song et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 3 | October 2011 | Pages 1010-1013
Measurement, Monitoring, and Accountancy | Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12587
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A calorimeter was integrated in KEPTL (KEPCO Research Institute Tritium Laboratory) and the various performance tests were performed. The inventory of tritium transport vessels delivered to the ITER tritium plant will be measured by calorimetry. For calorimetry measurement the tritium transport vessel will be inserted in an aluminum secondary container for the tritium leak prevention. The heat capacity and geometry of measuring objects, however, can affect the performance of the calorimeter such as measuring time, sensitivity, etc. In this study, the effect of the heat capacity of the tritium vessel on the performance of the twin cell calorimeter is studied by using JEC and aluminum container which are dummy vessels simulating the tritium decay heat with electric heaters. The average sensitivity in the test with aluminum containers is measured to be 96 V/mW which is similar that with JEC so it does not depend directly on the heat capacity of the tritium vessel. The aluminum container, however, makes the measuring time increase and the heat flow signal could be unstable in the range of low tritium and high heat capacity like a waste vessel after tritium loading out.