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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.
M.C. Billone, C.C. Lin, D.L. Baldwin
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1707-1714
Material and Tritium | Proceedings of the Ninth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Oak Brook, Illinois, October 7-11, 1990) | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29588
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Large quantities of Be (>100 metric tons) are planned for use in the ITER blanket design to enhance tritium breeding and to act as a thermal barrier between coolant and breeder. Tritium retention/release and He-induced swelling are important issues in blanket design. The data base on tritium and helium behavior in Be is reviewed. New data on tritium retention/release and He bubble growth are presented for Be irradiated to 5 × 1022 n(E > 1 MeV)/cm2 at ∼75°C and postirradiation-annealed for 700 hours at 500°C. A model (diffusion/desorption) is proposed and tested against the data base to determine tritium diffusivity and the desorption rate constant. Similarly a model for He-induced swelling is developed and tested against the data base. The dependence of tritium retention and release on He content and impurities (e.g. BeO) is also explored.
