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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.
Armando B. Antoniazzi, Clive S. Morton, Kevin P. Chen, Baojun Liu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 54 | Number 2 | August 2008 | Pages 635-638
Technical Paper | Process Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1895
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A tritium exposure apparatus has been designed and built for the purposes of generating a high-pressure tritium atmosphere at 523 K. The loading system consists of a uranium tritide storage bed, an intermediate tritium transfer chamber filled with 5A molecular sieve, and the sample exposure chamber. The loading system resides in a sealed glovebox with a nitrogen atmosphere that is continually purged through a Glovebox Clean-up System. The tritium used in each loading experiment is approximately 6000 Ci (22 TBq). The process entails transferring the tritium inventory from the uranium storage bed to the cryogenically cooled (77 K) molecular sieve chamber. The molecular sieve at liquid nitrogen temperature is capable of adsorbing tritium to densities of 290 Ci/gram at one atmosphere. At 523 K a maximum tritium pressure of 21 MPa is achieved. The loading apparatus is used to develop high-density radioactive isotope fuel for self-powered microelectronic and micromechanical devices. This paper presents the design specifics of the tritium exposure apparatus, the steps taken in generating the high-temperature, high-pressure tritium atmosphere and the performance characteristics of the apparatus. Additionally, the handling practices and equipment utilized to conduct the tests safely are presented.