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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.
Jungchung Jung
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 1 | July 1983 | Pages 144-163
Technical Paper | Fusion Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22781
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An in-depth nuclear analysis has been performed for WILDCAT that is a conceptual design of a commercial tokamak reactor utilizing a catalyzed deuterium-deuterium (D-D) fusion fuel cycle. Comparisons are made with the deuterium-tritium-fueled STARFIRE design in order to identify the salient features of D-D tokamak reactor designs. Since WILDCAT does not have to breed tritium, the blanket and shield system can be optimized to have a thinner inboard extent (∼0.8 versus 1.2 m for STARFIRE) leading to more efficient use of the toroidal field. The nonbreeding blanket concept of WILDCAT can also be utilized for substantial enhancement of the system energy multiplication (2.02 versus 1.14). These benefits help to overcome the reduced fusion reactivities and lead to a 60% more efficient blanket in terms of power generation. The outboard blanket and shield'system has been designed for personnel access within 24 h after reactor shutdown and uses as much as possible materials that are not resource limited and that have lower activation. Ninety percent of the materials in WILDCAT can be recycled within 50 yr after their discharge from the reactor.
