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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.
W. Jeppson, Lewis D. Muhlestein, Sydney Cohen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 277-287
Overview | Special Section Content / Safety/Environment Aspect | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22819
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tritium breeder material selection for fusion reactors is strongly influenced by the desire to minimize safety and environmental concerns. Breeder material safety compatibility studies are being conducted to identify and characterize breeder-coolant-material interactions under postulated reactor accident conditions. Recently completed scoping compatibility tests indicate the following. 1. Ternary oxides (liAlO2, Li2ZrO3, Li4SiO4, and liTiO3) at postulated blanket operating temperatures are chemically compatible with water coolant, while liquid lithium and Li7Pb2 reactons with water generate heat, aerosol, and hydrogen. 2. Lithium oxide and 17Li-83Pb alloy react mildly with water requiring special precautions to control hydrogen. 3. Liquid lithium reacts subtantially, while 17Li83Pb alloy reacts mildly with concrete to produce hydrogen. 4. Liquid lithium-air reactions may present some major safety concerns. Additional scoping tests are needed, bot the ternary oxides, lithium oxide, and 17Li-83Pb have definite safety advantages over liquid lithium and Li7pb2. The ternary oxides present minimal safety-related problems when used with water as coolant, air, or concrete; but they do require neuton multipliers, which may have safety compatibility concerns of lithium oxide 17Li-83Pb make them prime candidates as breeder materials. Current safety efforts are directed toward assessing the compatibility of lithium oxide and the lithium-lead alloy with coolants and other materials.
