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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.
Sebahattin Ünalan, S. Orhan Akansu, Hanifi Saraç
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 43 | Number 2 | March 2003 | Pages 230-249
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A263
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In an inertial fusion energy (IFE) reactor of 1000-MW(electric) fusion power, 95% flibe and 5% fuel with DRc thickness instead of 100% flibe are used. At startup, the tritium breeding ratio and M-blanket energy multiplication ratio are 1.05 and 1.26 for UF4 and DRc [approximately equal to] 60 cm, respectively. These values increase during an operation period of 30 yr. In 11 yr, M increases from 1.26 to 2 [= 2000 MW(electric)]. After operation of 11 yr, the energy production is stabilized by means of separation of produced plutonium. After 30 yr, displacement per atom (dpa) and helium production in the first wall are calculated as 92 dpa and 590 ppm, respectively. In addition, the cost of electricity values of the HYLIFE-II and the improved HYLIFE-II of 2000 MW(electric) drop from 4.5 and 3.2 ¢/kWh to 4.18 and 3.00 ¢/kWh, respectively. On the other hand, the IFE reactor has the fissile fuel breeding potential of 70 tonnes. The fissile fuel of 45 tonnes corresponding to [approximately equal to]2350 kg/yr would be sufficient to provide makeup fuel for [approximately equal to]10 light water reactors after 11 yr. After the shutdown process, 25 tonnes of fissile fuel with fuel enrichment of 23% would be left over.
