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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.
Ioana R. Cristescu, I. Cristescu, Ch. Day, M. Glugla, D. Murdoch
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 3 | October 2007 | Pages 659-666
Technical Paper | The Technology of Fusion Energy - Tritium, Safety, and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1564
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
During plasma operation of ITER in the DT phase, tritium will be distributed in the different subsystems of the fuel cycle; tritium inventories within the systems are not constant, but vary as the gas moves through these systems during the burn and dwell periods. To evaluate the tritium content in each sub-system of the fuel cycle of ITER, a dynamic model for tritium inventory calculation was developed. The code reflects the design of each system in various degrees of detail; both the physical processes characteristics and in some cases the associated control systems are modeled. The amount of tritium needed for ITER operation has a direct impact on the tritium inventories within the fuel cycle subsystems. As ITER will function in pulses, the main characteristics that influence both the maximum value of tritium inventories in the systems and the rapid tritium recovery from the fuel cycle as necessary for refueling are discussed. Eventually the inventories in the Isotope Separation System (as the system with the highest tritium inventory) for short and long pulses and their dependence on the packing molar inventory are presented.