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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.
K. Nemoto et al. (19P03)
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 2 | February 2007 | Pages 223-225
Technical Paper | Open Magnetic Systems for Plasma Confinement | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1356
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
At both end cells of GAMMA 10, two of Magneto-Plasma-Dynamic Arcjet (MPDA) are installed. MPDAs consists of two coaxial electrodes (tungsten stick and molybdic cylinder), and can produce quasi-stationary hydrogen plasmas. In GAMMA 10, the plasma generated by the MPDAs are used as the seed plasma. The main plasma is produced by ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) waves in combination with the hydrogen gas injection. In the center at r=0 near the mirror throat of plug/barrier cell, the flow velocity and the mach number are measured with a mach probe in cases of several discharge voltages. The flow velocity and the mach number increase with the discharge voltage. The mach number of the seed plasma and the main plasma (from the confined region) is also measured in the radial direction. The flow velocity and the mach number of the seed plasma become small in the core region than in the peripheral region.
