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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.
S. Tanaka, D. Yamaki, M. Yamawaki
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1018-1023
Blanket Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29476
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Modeling of the tritium reaction at the surface of Li2O was performed using data obtained in in-situ and out-of-pile tritium release experiments. In this model the effects of H2O and H2 in the sweep gas were considered. On the surface, recombination of -OT and dissociatively adsorbed -OH was considered to produce HTO. In addition to this, HT was considered to be produced by the reaction of surface tritium with dissociated hydrogen on the surface. On the surfaces of tubes and the solid breeder itself, conversion reactions of HTO to HT by H2 were also considered. Tritium inventory on the solid breeder surface and the released chemical form were calculated. They agreed fairly well with those of TTTEx in-situ tritium release experiments. It was found that H2O as well as H2 in the sweep gas affects tritium release behavior.
