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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.
G. D. Bazinet, W. F. Brehm, M. G. Down, D. K. Matlock
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 718-723
Materials Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22944
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The corrosion behavior of selected materials in a liquid lithium environment was studied in support of system-and component designs for the Fusion Materials Irradiation Test (FMIT) Facility. Testing conditions ranged from ∼ 3700 to ∼ 6500 hours of exposure to flowing lithium at temperatures from 230° to 270°C and static lithium at temperatures from 200° to 500°C. Principal areas of investigation included lithium corrosion/erosion effects on FMIT lithium system baseline and candidate materials. Material coupons and full-size prototypic components were evaluated to determine corrosion rates, fatigue crack growth rates, structural compatibility, and component acceptability for the lithium system. Based on the results of these studies, concerns regarding system materials and component designs were satisfactorily resolved to support a 20-year design life requirement for the FMIT lithium system.
