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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.
D. Brisset, V. Lamaison, G. Paquignon, J. P. Périn, E. Bouleau, D. Chatain, J. Manzagol
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 3 | October 2007 | Pages 473-477
Technical Paper | The Technology of Fusion Energy - Inertial Fusion Technology: Targets and Chambers | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1533
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Laser MegaJoule (LMJ) program plans to obtain Deuterium-Tritium (DT) mixture ignition leading to a fusion gain of ten. Cryogenic targets are hollow spheres whose interior is covered with a solid cryogenic fuel layer. The success of DT ignition depends on quality of the fuel layer uniformity. These targets must be cooled and kept at temperatures near the triple point (19.8 K) with a very good stability (+/-1 mK) for many hours, in the center of the 5 m radius experimental vacuum chamber with a position accuracy of a few microns. In order to validate our current device concepts, we have manufactured scale one prototypes to confirm all thermal and mechanical challenges, such as sharp thermal regulation, cooling autonomy and cryogenic target transfer.