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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. Wesley,* H.-W. Bartels, D. Boucher, A. Costley, L. De Kock, Yu. Gribov, M. Huguet, G. Janeschitz, P.-L. Mondino, V. Mukhovatov, A. Portone, M. Sugihara, I. Yonekawa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 32 | Number 4 | December 1997 | Pages 495-525
Technical Paper | Special Section: Plasma Control Issues for Tokamaks / Instrumentation Control and Data Handling | doi.org/10.13182/FST97-A19902
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Plasma control requirements for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) are identified, and an overview of proposed ITER plasma control concepts is presented, ITER will operate with a burning deuterium-tritium plasma to produce 1.5 GW of fusion power for durations of 1000 s or more. Key plasma control requirements to achieve these objectives encompass (a) plasma scenario and sequencing: plasma initiation, current rampup, divertor formation, auxiliary heating, ignition and burn, deignition (fusion power shutdown), and current rampdown and termination; (b) plasma magnetics control: plasma current and shape (R0, a, κ, δ) versus time, plus control of critical plasma-to-first-wall clearance gaps, including ion-cyclotron coupling gap and divertor magnetic configuration, during the diverted heating/ignition/burn/deignition phase of the plasma scenario; (c) plasma kinetics and divertor control: core plasma density and/or fusion power, core impurity content and/or radiated power fraction; core profile control (auxiliary heating and/or current drive), and divertor control (pumping, in-divertor gas and/or impurity injection and magnetic configuration optimization for divertor performance); and (d) fast plasma shutdown: fusion power and current shutdown by means of impurity injection. Physics and hardware concepts are presented as to how these plasma control functions will be implemented. Diagnostic measurements needed for plasma control are summarized. The relationship of plasma control to machine protection and public safety is also addressed.
