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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.
Yasunori Nakai, Kazuyuki Noborio, Yuto Takeuchi, Ryuta Kasada, Yasushi Yamamoto, Satoshi Konishi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 2 | August 2013 | Pages 379-383
Alternate Concepts/Applications | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 1), Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A18106
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An application of a cylindrical discharge tube type fusion neutron beam source for medical purpose was investigated. Practicality and possibility of the medical irradiation plan were evaluated from the standpoint of engineering and medicine.Cancer treatment by BNCT (Boron Neutron Capture Therapy) was selected as an effective application to take advantage of this neutron source. Neutron transport in a phantom was calculated with the MCNP5 (Monte Carlo Neutron Particle calculation code version5), and the distribution of dose on the affected part medicated with a boron agent suggested satisfactory focusing.Since this neutron source is small size, it is designed to irradiate the affected part from many directions by crossfire irradiation. Flexibility of attitude and operation modes permits irradiation in a supine position from arbitrary directions. Because of low neutron flux, irradiation therapy is planned for multi-fractionation in a manner similar to CHART (Continuous Hyperfractionated Accelerated Radio Therapy). Crossfire irradiation and CHART will allow us to achieve new cancer therapy with a relatively lower dose rate than conventional BNCT. It causes apoptosis selectively to a cancer cell, reducing side effects and a patient's recuperation burden. This result suggests the possibility of advanced cancer treatment which improves QOL (Quality of Life) of the patients.
