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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.
T. Kanazawa, M. Nishikawa, H. Yamasaki, K. Katayama, H. Kashimura, T. Hanada, S. Fukada
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 3 | October 2011 | Pages 1167-1170
Blanket and Breeder Materials | Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12623
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The present authors have developed the tritium release model to represent the tritium release behavior from solid breeder materials (Li2ZrO3, Li2TiO3, Li4SiO4, LiAlO2 and Li2O). It has been found that water is released from solid breeder materials into the purge gas due to desorption of physically and chemically adsorbed water and water generation reaction and that this water affects the tritium release behavior. In this study, the amount of adsorbed water and its desorption rate for Li2ZrO3 were quantified. It was found in this experiment that Li2ZrO3 has the largest adsorption amount among the solid breeder candidates. It was also observed that Li2ZrO3 has the largest water generation capacity among the solid breeder candidates. A unique reaction at around 550°C which made up approximately 80% of the capacity of water generation was also observed. It is considered that the phase change of ZrO2 at around 550°C supplies oxygen to promote water generation reaction. Tritium release behavior from Li2ZrO3 blanket was estimated using the properties obtained in this study under the operational condition of ITER or a commercial reactor.
