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Latest News
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.
B. Y. Kim, H. J. Ahn, J. S. Bak, S. K. Kim, D. W. Lee
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 62 | Number 1 | July-August 2012 | Pages 21-28
PFC and FW Materials Issues | Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Fusion Reactor Materials, Part A: Fusion Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A14106
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Korea Domestic Agency (KO-DA) was responsible for the procurement of the ITER blanket modules 1, 2, and 6 in the original procurement allocation. According to the procurement reallocation of the blanket system, Korea will procure the blanket shield block in place of the blanket first wall. Nevertheless, several R&D activities in Korea have been performed including optimization of the hot isostatic pressing (HIP) bonding process between Be/CuCrZr and CuCrZr/SS, the nondestructive test method, fabrication feasibility study, high heat flux tests, and design analysis. Especially, KO-DA participated in the qualification program for the mock-up manufacture and high heat flux tests. Several mock-ups were fabricated and tested during the qualification program. The details of the mock-up manufacture and test results are described in this paper. Also, two heat flux facilities were installed based on the graphite heating, and a new electron beam heat flux facility will be built in the near future for the enhanced heat flux mock-up test. As well, some design analysis was performed to investigate the performance of the blanket first wall against thermo-mechanical loading. In this paper, the status of the R&D activities and the results of the qualification tests for KO mock-ups are reviewed.