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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.
S. Konishi, K. Tobita, S. Nishio, H. Okada. R. Kurihara
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | May 2002 | Pages 817-820
Design and Model | Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan November 12-16, 2001 | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A22698
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Technical issues on tritium technology are investigated from the aspects of processing, safety and fuel supply, considering the concept of DEMO plant following ITER as the next target. Fusion plant equipped with power blanket will contain high temperature heat transfer medium and bred tritium in a tritium cycle. Although the inventory and throughput may not increase drastically from ITER, tritium plant will require significant technical improvements characterized by the self-consistent tritium fuel cycle and safety function to maintain the tritium level in the power train at adequately low level. Tritium balance issue will be one of the most important features because it will strongly affect the fusion in energy market by supplying initial loading. Tritium processing for coolant that will be mainly used for normal operation will dominate the safety feature of the entire plant by its technical difficulty and importance. Under off-normal conditions, this coolant tritium process can remove possible spill within the confinement, and thus fusion plant will not have any major process dedicated for accidents. Tritium technology is essential to make fusion energy attractive from the aspect of socio-economics, and its success in development is of vital importance toward fusion power plant as viable energy source for future.