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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. F. Praeg, D. G. McGhee, C. A. Trachsel, H. S. Zahn
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 1491-1496
Power Conversion, Instrumentation, and Control | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A23067
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A coaxial test fixture and a pulsed power supply have been built to conduct high current screening tests on candidate materials for contacts to be used in first wall connectors on fusion devices, particularly tokamaks. The fixture was operated with half sine wave pulses of < 300 kA; it is designed for carrying currents of up to 600 kA for approximately 300 ms at a repetition rate of 1 pulse every 5 minutes. The fixture is built as a vacuum vessel and capable of testing specimens in an ambient temperature of 300°C. Instrumentation is provided to measure the current pulse, contact voltage drop, contact pressure, the strain caused by contact pressure, and the operating temperature. The test fixture, its power supply and possible future upgrades are described.
