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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.
The Working Group on KARIN-I, A. Mohri, Y. Fujii-E, K. Ikuta, H. Momota, H. Naitou, Y. Nomura, Y. Tomita, M. Ohnishi, K. Yoshikawa, S. Inoue, M. Nishikawa, S.-Inoue Itoh, K. Kitamura, S. Nagao, H. Nakashima, M. Iwamoto, Y. Gomay, M. Kumagai, Y. Kawakita, Y. Suzuki, K. Okamoto, H. Matsunaga, H. Yoshizawa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 9 | Number 3 | May 1986 | Pages 422-451
Technical Paper | Fusion Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24730
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A 650-MW(electric) deuterium-tritium fusion reactor, KARIN-I, has ten moving plasma rings, which are produced by relativistic electron beam injection, heated by a major radius compression, and transported into a linear cylindrical burning section by annularly flowing liquid lithium outside the silicon carbide first wall The liquid lithium not only stabilizes the tilting motion of the rings but also works as the tritium breeder and the main coolant. Energy from the ash-accumulated rings is efficiently recovered at the exit during the major radius expansion. The linear alignment of reactor components ensures easy assembly and disassembly, and also provides for easy maintenance. These features of the reactor result in a net electric output power of 650 MW(electric) with overall plant efficiency of 30%.