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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. Keil, E. Erdle
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 14 | Number 2 | September 1988 | Pages 513-517
Tritium Processing | Proceedings of the Third Topical Meeting on Tritium Technology in Fission, Fusion and Isotopic Applications (Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 1-6, 1988) | doi.org/10.13182/FST88-A25184
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Aqueous waste which is a by-product of nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, is contaminated with tritium in the form of HTO. This waste must be disposed of in a suitable compact manner. In order to minimize waste volume, tritiated water is enriched by several orders of magnitude of its original concentration. This task is accomplished by using the existing combined electrolysis catalytic exchange (CECE)-Process, which is presently in pilot operation with tritium in a German nuclear research facility (Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe, KfK, FRG). Substantial energy reduction can be achieved by substituting the conventional water electrolysis by high-temperature steam electrolysis (HOT ELLY) for separating tritiated water into its components. Further and even more important advantages of implementing HOT ELLY is that the amount of radioactive inventory is minimized and no secondary waste is produced. The process engineering and safety aspects arising through the combination of the above two processes (CECE-Process and HOT ELLY) are explained.
