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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.
R L Otlet, A J Walker, C J Caldwell-Nichols
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 2 | March 1992 | Pages 550-555
Safety; Measurement and Accountability; Operation and Maintenance; Application | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29804
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Reliable measurement of Tritium for regulatory and radiological protection purposes requires the design of samplers which are simple to operate and easy to maintain and check during operation. Where measurements of Tritium in only the oxide form suffice, passive (diffusion tube type) samplers are very effective, requiring no moving parts or power supplies for their operation. Where separate measurement of Tritium in the oxide (HTO) and elemental form (HT) is required dynamic samplers, involving pumped gas systems, are generally necessary. Designs of both type of sampler, commissioned by JET, are described and the results of one year's operation, for environmental applications, are presented and discussed.
