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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. R. Coronado, E. M. Fearon, R. G. Garza, J. F. Shaw, P. C. Souers, R. K. Stump, R. T. Tsugawa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 14 | Number 2 | September 1988 | Pages 741-743
Tritium Properties and Interactions with Material | 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-A25223
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The He3 output from two palladium and two uranium beds that store T2 and D-T was studied as a function of time. Three of the beds were started new and watched for 1 yr; the fourth bed was 12 yr old. All four beds were used in routine tritium handling. Initial stoichiometries were PdT0.3 and UT0.7 so that both operated at similar pressures from 1 to 130 kPa. The He3 from palladium ranged from the 0.002 mol% lower level of sensitivity to 0.01% for Pd/T2 at 1 yr of age. The U/T system showed 0.1% He3 at 4 to 62 days and 0.1 to 10% at longer times, with the first cuts being high in He3. The palladium bed with 95 to 97% pure T2 enriches the output to as high as 97 to 99%.
