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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.
Elizabeth H. Stephens, Abbas Nikroo, Daniel T. Goodin, Ronald W. Petzoldt
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 43 | Number 3 | May 2003 | Pages 346-352
Technical Paper | Targets and Target Protection During Injection | doi.org/10.13182/FST43-346
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Inertial fusion energy (IFE) reactors require shells with a high-Z coating that is both permeable, for timely filling with deuterium-tritium, and reflective, for survival in the chamber. Previously, gold was deposited on shells while they were agitated to obtain uniform, reproducible coatings. However, these coatings were rather impermeable, resulting in unacceptably long fill times. We report here on an initial study on Pd coatings on shells in the same manner. We have found that these palladium-coated shells are substantially more permeable than gold. Pd coatings on shells remained stable on exposure to deuterium. Pd coatings had lower reflectivity compared to gold that leads to a lower working temperature, and efficiency, of the proposed fusion reactor. Seeking to combine the permeability of Pd coatings and high reflectivity of gold, AuPd-alloy coatings were produced using a cosputtering technique. These alloys demonstrated higher permeability than Au and higher reflectivity than Pd. However, these coatings were still less reflective than the gold coatings. To improve the permeability of gold's coatings, permeation experiments were performed at higher temperatures. With the parameters of composition, thickness, and temperature, we have the ability to comply with a large target design window.