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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.
R. A. Sigg, D. P. DiPrete, D. J. Pak, L. M. Arrigo
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 54 | Number 1 | July 2008 | Pages 167-169
Technical Paper | Tritium Measurement | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1787
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Systems to safely analyze for tritium in moisture collected from glovebox atmospheres are being developed for use at Savannah River Site (SRS) tritium facilities. Analysis results will guide whether the material contains sufficient tritium for economical recovery, or whether it should be stabilized for disposal as waste. In order to minimize potential radiation exposures that could occur in handling and diluting high-tritium-content water, SRS sought alternatives to the process laboratory's routine analysis by liquid-scintillation counting. The newer systems determine tritium concentrations by measuring bremsstrahlung radiation induced by low-energy beta interactions. One of the systems determines tritium activity in liquid streams, the other determines tritium activity in water vapor. Topics discussed include counting results obtained by modeling and laboratory testing and corrections that are made for low-energy photon attenuation.
