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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.
P. Phruksarojanakun, P. P. H. Wilson, B. B. Cipiti, R. M. Grady
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 3 | October 2007 | Pages 744-751
Technical Paper | The Technology of Fusion Energy - Nonelectric Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1579
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Efficient burn up of minor actinides is one of the most promising alternatives for minimizing waste in advanced nuclear fuel cycles. This work examines the concept of employing Z-pinch driven fusion source in a sub-critical transmutation reactor designed to burn up actinides and generate constant power. Its fuel cycle is designed to allow on-line fission product removal and fuel replenishment. The variation of the actinide inventory is an essential quantity used to calculate the energy multiplications and neutron spectrum, as well as to design an appropriate reactivity control mechanism.In this paper we develop a method to calculate timedependent isotopic distributions, fuel feeding rate and fission product removal rate necessary to obtain a constant power level. The calculation is performed by using both MCise, a Monte Carlo isotopic inventory code, and MCNP5. An important feature of MCise for this system is the ability to simulate the on-line removal of fission products from the actinide mixture.In addition to reporting the actinide inventory and burn rates, the impact of the actinide inventory on the fission/fusion energy multiplication will be examined.
