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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.
S. Z. Fixler, G. W. Gilchrist, J. Bialek
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 7 | Number 1 | January 1985 | Pages 111-124
Technical Paper | Vacuum System | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A24523
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A transient thermal analysis was conducted on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor vacuum vessel to determine the response of the vessel and its critical components to several pulsed discharge cleaning (PDC) and in situ bakeout scenarios. The three-dimensional model is described. The method of analysis, flow distribution, boundary conditions, and assumed configuration are stated. The resultant temperatures and thermal gradients are presented as a function of time and space on the vessel, bellows, bellows covers, ports, and port covers. Two PDC and three bakeout scenarios were analyzed. For nominal discharge cleaning, a 100-kW plasma with a 25-kW bellows ohmic heat (OH) dissipation was assumed. For aggressive discharge cleaning, a 400-kW plasma with a 100-kW bellows OH dissipation was assumed. In the first bakeout scenario a series of 56°C (100°F) temperature steps (ΔT) was imparted to the heating air at 10-h intervals until a bakeout temperature of 250°C was attained. In the second scenario the interval between steps was increased to 25 h. In the third scenario the temperature step (AT) was reduced to 28°C (50°F) at 10-h intervals between steps. The results of the analysis indicate that temperatures during initial operations can be maintained within allowable limits. A PDC maximum temperature of 232°C occurs on the bellows cover plates. The bakeout results show that for a 28°C step, 10-h interval, it takes 112 h to bake out the entire torus. Initial results of the thermal analysis enabled setting up in situ bakeout constraints that prevent excessive vessel/bellows stresses and minimized bakeout run times.