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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.
Jay F. Benesch, Roger D. Bengtson, George L. Cardwell, Stephen A. Eckstrand, Rex F. Gandy, Paul Wildi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 2 | Number 3 | July 1982 | Pages 398-409
Technical Paper | Special Section Contents / Experimental Devices | doi.org/10.13182/FST82-A20772
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The PRETEXT tokamak was designed to investigate the initial stages of a tokamak discharge. The machine has a major radius of 53 cm, limiter radius of 15 cm, and a toroidal field (TF) of 8 kG. Plasma currents of 40 to 60 kA with durations of 40 to 70 ms are typical. Chord average density is of the order of 1013 cm−3, the electron temperature Te(0) ∼ 300 eV, and the effective charge Zeff ∼ 3. The ohmic-heating (OH) transformer is unique among operating machines, having an iron core and air return. Combinations of mechanical and electronic switches in the OH and TF power supplies provide good reliability at low jitter and low cost. The design and construction of the PRETEXT tokamak are discussed in enough detail to give a feeling for the compromises that must be made and the problems that will be encountered in the building of any controlled thermonuclear reactor device.
