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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.
Kris Dylst, John Seghers, Frank Druyts, Johan Braet
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 54 | Number 1 | July 2008 | Pages 215-218
Technical Paper | Waste Handling | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1798
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recycling beryllium used in a fusion reactor might be a good way to overcome problems related to the disposal of neutron irradiated beryllium. The critical issues for the recycling of used first wall beryllium are the presence of tritium and (transuranic) impurities. High temperature annealing seems to be the most promising technique for detritiation. Purification of the detritiated beryllium can be achieved by chlorination of the irradiated beryllium and the subsequent reduction of beryllium chloride to highly pure metallic beryllium. After that, the beryllium can be re-fabricated into first wall tiles via powder metallurgy which is already a mature industrial practice. This paper outlines the path to define the experimental needs for beryllium recycling and tackles problems related to the detritiation and the purification via the chlorine route.
