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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.
Takuya Nagasaka, Takeo Muroga, Akio Sagara, Hiroshi Yukawa, Tomonori Nambu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 4 | November 2011 | Pages 1580-1583
Interaction with Materials | Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12736
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tensile and creep strength of pure V, Nb, Ta, and Nb-9W alloy were examined at 600 °C to assess their applicability as hydrogen permeation material for the recovery of tritium from the high temperature liquid breeder blanket of a fusion reactor. The Nb-9W alloy required a comparatively higher annealing temperature to achieve good ductility. Based on tensile strength results, it is estimated that a permeation wall thickness of 0.1 mm is achievable. According to creep rate of Nb-9W alloy, design stress maybe decreased below 1/3 of yield stress.