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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.
K.J. O'Brien, G.A. Moses, A.M. White
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 883-888
Inertial Confinement Fusion | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22972
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It has been proposed to surround the target chamber of the Light Ion Fusion Target Development Facility with a water shield. Such a shield would effectively isolate the radioactive chamber from the environment while providing a medium in which to absorb energy imparted to the target chamber walls following the impact of the fireball. Radioactivity calculations will be presented for five different wall materials. If the water surrounding the chamber provides a damping mechanism for the wall vibrations, it also provides a medium through which a pressure pulse can be transmitted to the outer wall of the shield region. It is desirable to minimize the pressure loading upon this structure. An investigation of the effects of a bubble screen upon the propagation of the water pressure wave is presented, along with some possible criteria for the design of a screen.
