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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.
L. Crosatti, D. L. Sadowski, J. B. Weathers, S. I. Abdel-Khalik, M. Yoda, ARIES Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 3 | October 2007 | Pages 531-538
Technical Paper | The Technology of Fusion Energy - High Heat Flux Components | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1543
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As a part of the ARIES-CS compact stellarator power plant study, a modular, helium-cooled, T-tube divertor design that can accommodate a peak heat load of 10 MW/m2 has been proposed. Detailed analyses have been performed using the FLUENT[registered] CFD software package to evaluate the thermal performance at the nominal design and operating conditions. Extremely high heat transfer coefficients (>40 kW/(m2-K)) have been predicted. An experimental investigation has been undertaken to validate the results of the numerical simulations. A test module which closely simulates the geometry of the proposed He-cooled T-tube divertor has been tested using air as the coolant while maintaining the same non-dimensional parameter ranges as the He-cooled T-tube divertor design. Axial and azimuthal variations of the local heat transfer coefficient have been measured over a wide range of operating conditions. The experimental data closely match the model predictions. The results of this investigation show that the model can be used with confidence in future design analyses of the T-tube divertor, as well as similar types of gas-cooled high heat flux components.