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Latest News
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. El-Guebaly, M. Sawan, I. Sviatoslavsky, P. Wilson, G. Sviatoslavsky, G. Kulcinski
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 4 | November 2007 | Pages 906-910
Technical Paper | Inertial Fusion Technology: Drivers and Advanced Designs | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1608
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The 3 GJ target with low repetition rate and thick liquid wall chamber presents the mainline choice for the Z-Pinch power plant. An engineering scoping assessment has been developed for two candidate breeders (Flibe (F4Li2Be)molten salt and Li17Pb83 liquid metal) to identify the design requirements and optimize the components' dimensions. Several important engineering features have been incorporated to improve the Z-Pinch performance. For instance, an advanced high-temperature steel-based structure could operate near 800°C, an advanced power cycle could achieve high thermal conversion efficiency approaching 50%, a low-activation F82H-based steel with controlled impurities will generate only low-level waste, and an innovative idea has been developed to establish jet flow using a sluice valve. This paper identifies self-consistent reference parameters and documents an interesting comparison between the candidate breeders, highlighting the fundamental differences in performance and the benefits and drawbacks of each breeder.
