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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.
E. A. Veshchev, L. Bertalot, S. Putvinski, M. Garcia-Munoz, S. W. Lisgo, C. S. Pitcher, R. A. Pitts, V. S. Udintsev, M. Walsh
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 2 | February 2012 | Pages 172-184
Technical Paper by Monaco ITER Postdoctoral Fellows | First Joint ITER-IAEA Technical Meeting on Analysis of ITER Materials and Technologies | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13385
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A feasibility study for a fast-ion-loss detector in ITER has been carried out. Taking into account the basic requirements for measuring magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)-induced fast-ion (fusion-born alpha particles and ions from external heating systems) losses and the harsh environments expected in ITER plasmas, a solution based on a reciprocating probe installed in an equatorial port is suggested. In agreement with previous studies, Monte Carlo simulations of alpha-particle load on the first wall in MHD quiescent plasmas indicate that the main losses will be concentrated below the midplane, in the region of blanket module (BM) 15 to BM 18. Orbit tracing and thermal analysis, including plasma photonic and particle fluxes together with nuclear heating, have been performed to estimate the most suitable measurement timing and position of the reciprocating probe, enabling the detection of escaping alpha particles with pitch angles from [approximately]0 to 85 deg. This large velocity space ensures the detection of escaping alpha particles on both passing and trapped orbits, allowing the study of the interaction between alpha particles and a rich variety of MHD instabilities.