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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.
P.A. Davis, D.C. Galeriu, F.S. Spencer, B.D. Amiro
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 28 | Number 3 | October 1995 | Pages 833-839
Tritium Safety | Proceedings of the Fifth Topical Meeting on Tritium Technology in Fission, Fusion, and Isotopic Applications Belgirate, Italy May 28-June 3, 1995 | doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A30508
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A small experimental plot was continuously exposed to elevated levels of HT in air over a 12-day period to study the build up and steady-state concentrations of HTO in the environment. HTO concentrations in soil, vegetation and air all showed similar dynamics, increasing gradually over time with temporary decreases during and following rainfall. The relative magnitudes of the soil, vegetation and air concentrations depended on the height at which the air and vegetation were sampled, the depth at which the soil sample was taken and the soil depth over which the plants drew their transpiration water. The system was at or near steady-state in the last two or three days of the release. When averaged over an eight day interval that included periods of rain, the ratios of HTO concentration in soil, foliage and air moisture to HT concentration in air (measured 20 cm above the ground) were typically 0.0014, 0.0010 and 0.0011 (Bq/mL)/(Bq/m3) for a cultivated field.
