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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.
J. S. Jaquez, A. Nikroo, N. A. Hein, W. Sweet
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 63 | Number 2 | March-April 2013 | Pages 226-231
Technical Paper | Selected papers from 20th Target Fabrication Meeting, May 20-24, 2012, Santa Fe, NM, Guest Editor: Robert C. Cook | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A16342
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Simulations of ignition-scale hohlraums show that the addition to the hohlraum of a submicron-thick Au/B interior liner containing [approximately]20 to 40 at. % B likely reduces laser backscatter by reducing the stimulated Brillouin scattering. By reducing the backscatter, the amount of energy available to compress the inertial confinement fusion capsule is increased while the likelihood of laser damage at National Ignition Facility (NIF) is minimized. A specialized magnetron cosputtering process is used to fabricate Au/B liners between 0.6 and 1.2 m for use on hohlraums shot at NIF to the atomic concentrations of 20 to 40 at. % B. We will discuss recent process improvements, such as LabVIEW process automation, in situ rate and thickness measurements, and optimized coating setup, all of which have increased the hohlraum yield and hohlraum throughput as well as increased control and confidence in Au/B liner thickness and B concentration uniformity and reproducibility. We will also discuss effects of various leaching mechanisms affecting B concentration in the Au/B liner.