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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.
H. Kido, M. Nemoto, K. Tomita, N. Kurosawa, H. Kimura, H. Yasuda
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 4 | November 2011 | Pages 1272-1275
Environmental and Organically Bound Tritium | Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12662
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, located in northeastern Aomori prefecture, is currently undergoing the final commissioning test using actual spent nuclear fuels (the Active Test). Tritium had been discharged from the reprocessing plant and some effects to the environment were observed since the Active Test had been started at the reprocessing plant on March 31, 2006. The purpose of this study is to predict the environmental impact of the reprocessing plant once it becomes operational. An atmospheric dispersion simulation system, developed by the authors, has been utilized to predict the expected tritium dispersion during the plant future operations. In this study, a simulation of tritium dispersion was carried out using wind velocities and wind directions as prediction factors for future HTO activity. The simulation results were compared with actual HTO activity measurements taken during the autumn of 2006 and the spring and autumn of 2007. The results of the simulation appear to accurately reflect the actual measured results from HTO measurements in the autumn seasons of both 2006 and 2007, however, there were discrepancies between the data set from the spring of 2007 and predicted results formulated by the simulation for that same period.