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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. R. Novog, S. T. Yin, J. S. Chang
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 4 | November 2007 | Pages 880-884
Technical Paper | First Wall, Blanket, and Shield | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1604
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation conducted for high heat flux subcooled boiling heat transfer and pressure drop in a tubular channel under both smooth- and swirl-flow of high velocity water. High heat flux flow boiling is of interest to Fusion reactor first wall cooling. Test conditions covered a mass flux range from 5 to 10 Mg/m2 s, inlet temperatures from 100 to 175°C and system pressures from 2.0 to 5.0 MPa. The maximum heat flux tested was 12 MW/m2. The test section diameter used in this study was 5.30 mm (I.D.) with an axial heated length of 356 mm. To ensure accurate results, a significant number of heat balance tests were performed with a minimum and maximum heat balance error of 1.5%. Swirl-flow tests were performed using twisted tape inserts with thickness 0.8 mm with twist ratios between 2 and 4. To measure heat transfer performance, 15 miniature thermocouples were used to measure the tube outside wall temperature at various axial and circumferential positions. Differential pressure transducers were used to measure the axial pressure drop at several locations along the test section under single- and two-phase conditions.