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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.
G. L. Kulcinski, James P. Blanchard, Laila A. El-Guebaly, Gilbert A. Emmert, Hesham Y. Khater, Charles W. Maynard, E. A. Mogahed, John F. Santarius, Mohamed E. Sawan, I. N. Sviatoslavsky, L. J. Wittenberg
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 4 | July 1992 | Pages 2292-2296
Technical Paper | Special Issue on D-He Fusion / D-3He/Fusion Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29722
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The key features of Apollo, a conceptual D-3He tokamak reactor for commercial electricity production, are summarized. The 1000-MW(electric) design utilizes direct conversion of synchrotron radiation power and thermal conversion of transport, neutron, and bremsstrahlung radiation power. The direct conversion method uses rectennas, and the thermal conversion cycle uses an organic coolant. Apollo operates in the first-stability regime, with a major radius of 7.89 m, a peak magnetic field on the toroidal field coils of 19.3 T, a 53-MA plasma current, and a 6.7% beta value. The low neutron production of the D-3He fuel cycle greatly reduces the radiation damage rate and allows a full-lifetime first wall and structure made of standard steels with only slight modifications to reduce activation levels. The reduced radioactive inventory and afterheat give significant safety and environmental advantages over deuterium-tritium reactors.