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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.
Guillermo J. Cruz, Maria Guadalupe Olayo, Angel Flores, Samuel R. Barocio, Régulo López, Esteban Chávez, Leandro Meléndez
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 1 | January 2001 | Pages 27-32
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A148
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The evaluation of the electron temperature, density, and plasma potential in a glow cleaning discharge hydrogen plasma in the Novillo tokamak is presented. The objective was to investigate the plasma conditions allowing the removal of impurities from the vacuum vessel, thus avoiding the formation of other chemical compounds that could remain adhered to its inner walls. The discharges were accomplished through two anodes and one cathode within the 0.07 to 0.2-mbar-pressure interval at a power density in the range of 100 to 900 W/m2. The plasma parameters were obtained using Langmuir probes. The results indicated that the electron temperature lay between 3 and 10 eV, the electron density was approximately 108 to 109 cm-3, and the plasma potential was in the 10- to 18-V range. The electron energy was in the range of the dissociation energy for most impurities found in the Novillo tokamak.
