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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.
P. H. Rebut, B. E. Keen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 11 | Number 1 | January 1987 | Pages 13-42
Overview | JET Project | doi.org/10.13182/FST87-A24999
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The background to the decision to build the Joint European Torus (JET) is described, and a brief introduction to the main aims, overall design philosophy, and the planned parameter range of the large tokamak device (major radius R = 2.96 m; horizontal and vertical minor radii a = 1.25 m and b = 2.10 m, respectively; plasma current Ip = 4.8 MA) is provided. JET is situated on the Culham Laboratory site, United Kingdom, and its main objective is to obtain and study plasmas in conditions and with dimensions approaching those needed in a fusion reactor. The main emphasis in the initial operation has been in the ohmic heating phase, in which results have covered a wide range of parameters: plasma currents Ip < 5 MA; toroidal magnetic fields BT = 1.3 to 3.4 T; elongation ratios b/a = 1.2 to 1.7; and safety factor values q = 2.2 to 12. Average electron densities ne = (1 to 4) × 1019 m-3, with high central electron temperatures (Te up to 5 keV) and ion temperatures (Ti up to 4 keV) have been achieved, although Zeff was in the range of 2.5 to 10. Energy confinement times (τE) of up to 0.8 s have been obtained. Some problems with metallic and low-Z impurities are noted, causing high radiation levels. Initial experiments, with ion cyclotron resonance frequency (ICRF) heating of hydrogen and 3He minorities in deuterium plasmas at megawatt levels, are reported. A discussion of certain limitations observed generally in tokamaks and how these might affect future developments of the JET program is presented. Planned future experiments on impurity control, additional heating (ICRF ≈ 15 MW, and neutral injection ≈ 10 MW), and preparations for tritium operation are also described.
