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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 C Bell, J L Hemmerich, R Lässer, N Bainbridge, G Bishop, D Brennan, C Caldwell-Nichols, J Campbell, A Dearden, B Grieveson, G Jones, J Lupo, J Mart, A Perevezentsev, N Skinner, R Stagg, K Walker, R Warren, J Yorkshades
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 28 | Number 3 | October 1995 | Pages 1301-1306
Design, Operation, and Maintenance of Tritium System | 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-A30590
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Joint European Torus (JET) carried out the first preliminary experiment with a deuterium-tritium plasma in 1991. This utilised an on-site inventory of 0.25g. The future experimental programme for the JET machine includes two discrete phases using plasmas fuelled by deuterium and tritium. The first of these, in mid-1996, will generate around 2 × 1020 neutrons and require a site inventory of a few grams of tritium. The second is proposed to take place in 1999 if an extension to the JET project from 1996 is granted. This will require a few tens of grams of tritium and will generate up to 5 × 1021 neutrons. The JET Active Gas Handling System has been constructed to enable tritium to be recovered from the plasma exhaust and stored for re-injection. The design also minimises tritium discharges to the environment. It is currently being commissioned to meet the above programme and has been modified to take into account a new requirement for operation over extended periods during maintenance and D-D operation with tritium contaminated plasma exhaust. Commissioning of the Active Gas Handling System consists of inactive, trace tritium (∼40TBq) and full tritium (<3g) phases. The experience and main results of inactive commissioning are presented and the status of tritium commissioning is reviewed.
