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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.
A. Boltax
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 3 | May 1992 | Pages 1921-1926
Material and Tritium | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A30000
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
During the late 1960s, the irradiation effects discoveries of void swelling, irradiation creep and loss of ductility of stainless steels created significant impacts on the design and development of fast breeder reactors. The Fast Flux Test Reactor (FFTF) was the first fast reactor to be designed subsequent to the initial quantification of these irradiation effects. This paper describes the experience of incorporating irradiation effects data in the design of the FFTF core restraint system and the evolutionary paths followed to develop the advanced materials in current use and under development.
