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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.
S. Fukada, K. Katayama, T. Terai, A. Sagara
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 3 | October 2007 | Pages 677-681
Technical Paper | The Technology of Fusion Energy - Tritium, Safety, and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1567
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The present paper is to describe the behavior of tritium in Flibe as a self-cooled liquid blanket of a fusion reactor quantitatively. In order to avoid the generation of corrosive TF, Flibe is maintained under reduction atmosphere to transform TF to T2 to keep a faster reaction rate compared with a residence time in a self-cooled blanket. The most important point is to clarify whether or not the redox control of Flibe can be achieved by Be rods inserted in a blanket within a limited contact time. The dissolution rate of a Be rod and the TF reduction reaction rate of Be + 2TF = BeF2 + T2 in Flibe were experimentally determined under the JUPITER-II collaboration work. Close agreement was obtained between experiment and our simplified complete-mixing model. Especially, the reaction between Be and F- ion immediately after the contact was found to be limited by diffusion of F- ion. The behavior of tritium generated in a Flibe fuel cycle was simulated under a Flibe flow condition of FFHR-2.