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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.
C. J. Martin, L. A. El-Guebaly
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 4 | November 2007 | Pages 985-989
Technical Paper | Tritium, Safety, and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1622
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) and Loss of Flow Accident (LOFA) thermal simulations have been performed for the ARIES compact stellarator fusion power plant. The ARIES-CS design uses three separate coolant loops: lithium-lead (LiPb) in the blanket, helium in the blanket and the shield, and water in the vacuum vessel. The thermal response to LOCA/LOFA conditions was simulated using transient axisymmetric finite element models. In these analyses, the plasma was quenched three seconds after coolant loss, and the temperature of the chamber components subsequently increased due to the generated decay heat. Thermal simulations determined the maximum temperatures reached in the various components were below the 740°C temperature limit for the reusability of the ferritic steel structure.