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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.
A. I. Ryazanov, V. S. Koidan, B. I. Khripunov, S. T. Latushkin, V. B. Petrov, L. S. Danelyan, E. V. Semenov, V. N. Unezhev
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 2 | February 2012 | Pages 107-117
Technical Paper | First Joint ITER-IAEA Technical Meeting on Analysis of ITER Materials and Technologies | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13375
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents a summary of scientific results obtained during the last few years in the National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute" (NRC KI). The main aims of this research are the development of a new experimental method that can be applied for the investigation of the influence of a high level of radiation damage on the plasma erosion effects of irradiated materials (graphite materials and tungsten) at different temperatures and the investigation of hydrogen isotope accumulation in these materials relevant to fusion reactor conditions (in ITER).A high level of radiation damage in these materials (0.1 to 10 displacements per atom) was achieved by irradiating them with fast charged particles at the NRC KI cyclotron, simulating fast neutron irradiation in a fusion reactor. The plasma erosion effects in irradiated and nonirradiated materials were compared using the linear plasma simulator LENTA at NRC KI.The performed investigations have shown that the erosion factor of irradiated graphite materials is increased and the tungsten surface structure is changed due to the accumulation of radiation damage. No influence of irradiation on tungsten erosion rate was observed in these experimental tests. The accumulation of hydrogen isotopes and helium concentrations were measured in the irradiated tungsten.The performed work and the obtained results suggest a new promising experimental method for the experimental investigation of plasma effects on fusion structural materials at different irradiation temperatures and different radiation damage levels.
