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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.
K. A. Niemer, J. G. Gilligan, C. D. Croessmann, A. C. England, D. L. Hillis
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1717-1723
Impurity Control and Plasma-Facing Component | Proceedings of the Ninth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Oak Brook, Illinois, October 7-11, 1990) | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29589
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Four detection probes were designed with the PTA code package and fabricated to study energy deposition, temperature rise, and damage to plasma facing components from runaway electrons in the Advanced Toroidal Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The PTA code package is a unique application of PATRAN, the Integrated TIGER Series, and ABAQUS for modeling high energy electron impact on magnetic fusion components and materials. Two of the probes were made of stainless steel, one of graphite, and one of molybdenum. They were inserted one at a time on the magnetic axis of ATF during field ramps. Each probe had two thermocouples to measure temperature increases. One of the stainless steel probes had activation foils to detect photonuclear reactions. Analysis of the experiment concluded that runaways on the order of 10 MeV exist in ATF. Damage to the materials was in the form of melting and ablation. The graphite probe survived with less damage than the other probes.