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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.
I. N. Sviatoslavsky, M. E. Sawan, R. R. Peterson, G. L. Kulcinski, J. J. MacFarlane, L. J. Wittenberg, H. Y. Khater, E. A. Mogahed, S. C. Rutledge, Sunil Ghose, Robert Bourque
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 3 | May 1992 | Pages 1470-1474
Inertial Fusion Reactor Studies | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29928
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The SOMBRERO inertial fusion reactor conceptual design study is of a 1000 MWe KrF laser driven near symmetric illumination system which utilizes a Li2O solid breeder moving bed in a blanket made entirely of low activation carbon/carbon composite material. The Li2O particles flow through the various parts of the blanket under gravity, then are transported through an intermediate heat exchanger and around the loop in a fluidized state by helium gas at 0.2 MPa. Liquid lead is used in the intermediate loop, going to a steam generator and a double reheat steam power cycle. There are 60 beams in the near symmetric illumination configuration. The laser energy is 3.4 MJ, the target gain 118 and the rep-rate 6.7 Hz. At the mid-plane, the blanket thickness is 1 m giving a tritium breeding ratio of 1.25 and an overall energy multiplication of 1.08. The first wall is at 6.5 m radius and is protected from x-rays and ions by 0.5 torr of Xe gas. Grazing incidence metallic mirrors are located at a distance of 30 m and dielectric final focusing mirrors at 50 m from the target Source neutrons are directed into neutron traps located in line with the grazing incidence mirrors. The final focusing mirrors which are out of line of sight of source neutron are subjected to low energy scattered neutrons only and can survive the 30 full power year reactor lifetime. The Li2O particles enter the chamber at 550°C and exit at an average temperature of 740°C, giving a power cycle efficiency of 47%. The gross power output is 1360 MW and for a 7% laser efficiency, the driver power is 325 MWe, with the remaining 35 MWe used for auxiliary equipment. The chamber and shield qualify for near surface burial as Class A waste while the Li2O breeder, as Class C waste.