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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.
E. Montalvo, B. R. Shi1, R. Carrera, G. Y. Fu2, Z. Guo3, R. Haleltine, L. M. Hively4, G. H. Miley5, M. N. Rosenbluth6, K. Tani7, J. W. Van Dam, X. Xiao8
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1284-1289
Result of Large Experiment and Plasma Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29518
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Alpha healing, alpha containment, and alpha stabilization effects are studied in the fusion ignition experiment IGNITEX. The IGNITEX device offers the possibility of producing fusion-ignited plasmas with ohmic heating alone. It is shown here that operating regimes with high probability for ignition and simplicity of operation are possible in IGNITEX. Time-dependent simulations showing the ohmic heating and alpha healing coupling through the discharge are presented. The characteristics for alpha transport with magnetic field perturbations are analyzed in detail using Monte-Carlo techniques. The stability of internal MHD modes and the interaction with alpha particles in the inner confinement region of ignited plasmas is studied. Specifically, the stability of resistive internal kinks, ideal internal kinks, and fishbones is presented. It is shown that a quiescent regime of operation is possible during the ignited phase in IGNITEX. Because of its ample ignition margin, its high alpha containment, and the possibility of operation far from marginal stability and the possibility of ignition operation with quiescent regimes in the inner region of the plasma, it is concluded that the IGNITEX device can produce fusion-ignited plasmas in a simple manner.