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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. E. Klein, J. R. Brenner, E. F. Dyer
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | May 2002 | Pages 782-787
Hydride and Storage | Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan November 12-16, 2001 | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A22691
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A nominal 1500 STP-L PAssively Cooled, Electrically heated hydride (PACE) Bed has been developed and tested. The bed contained 12.6 kg of a La-Ni-Al alloy and used aluminum foam to improve heat transfer within the bed. Steady-state temperature measurements made at constant power showed a nonuniform bed temperature profile. Protium absorption rates were measured at pressures of 253 kPa, 413 kPa, and 680 kPa with forced convection cooling air flow rates ranging from 50 to 150 SLPM air. Absorption tests were also performed simulating the absorption of tritium and a method for estimating this rate using protium absorption data presented. Desorption rates were measured at pressures ranging from 20 kPa to 933 kPa using dual and single 400 watt electric heaters and found desorption rates were only impacted at the beginning and the end of a desorption cycle by the use of a single heater.
