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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.
L. Rodrigo, J.A. Sawicki, R.E. Johnson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 28 | Number 3 | October 1995 | Pages 1410-1415
Tritium Storage, Distribution, and Transportation | 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-A30609
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A postmortem analysis of samples of deactivated SAES St707 getter particles recovered from a glove box purification system was conducted to determine the cause for deactivation and eventual hydrogen capacity loss. Unused and used .getter samples were investigated by Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and Mossbauer Transmission Spectroscopy (MTS) of 57Fe. Hydrogen absorption isotherms were measured to determine the extent of the hydrogen capacity loss, and the total impurity (0,N) loading levels were determined by vacuum fusion mass spectrometry. The effect of common gaseous impurities on the tritium-removal characteristics was investigated to determine the nature of impurity-getter interaction for different impurities. Hydrogen capacity loss observed in the purifier was found to be due to bulk nitriding, probably due to irreversible transformation of intermetallic Laves-phase Zr(Fe,V)2 to Zr4Fe2 (O,N)x. The temporary getter deactivation observed during operation of the purifier may have been caused by impurities such as CO, CO2 and volatile organics. Metallic Fe (considered to be responsible for dissociative chemisorption of H2) was found only on unused samples. A gradual loss of metallic Fe from the getter surface could also have contributed to getter deactivation.
