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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.
M. Z. Youssef, M. A. Abdou, A. Kumar, Li Zhang, K. Kosako, Y. Oyama, F. Maekawa, Y. Ikeda, C. Konno, H. Maekawa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 28 | Number 2 | September 1995 | Pages 320-346
Technical Paper | Fusion Neutronics Integral Experiments — Part II / Blanket Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A30649
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experimental simulation to a line source has been realized at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) Fusion Neutronics Source within the U.S. Department of Energy/JAERI collaborative program on fusion neutronics. This simulation, achieved by cyclic movement of an annular Li2O test assembly relative to a stationary point source, was a step forward in better simulation of the energy and angular distributions of the incident neutron source found in tokamak plasmas. Thus, compared with other experiments previously performed with a stationary point source, the uncertainties (that are system dependent) in calculating important neutronics parameters, such as tritium production rate (TPR), will be more representative of those anticipated in a fusion reactor. The rectangular annular assembly used is 1.3 × 1.3 m and 2.04 m long with a square cavity of 0.42 × 0.42 m cross section where the simulated line source (2 m long) is located axially at the center. To characterize the incident neutron source, flux mapping with foil activation measurements was performed in the axial direction (Z = −100 cm to Z = 100 cm) at the front surface of the assembly in the cavity with the annular blanket in place, and comparison was made to the bare line-source case (without annular blanket). Three phases of experiments were performed. In Phase-IIIA, a 1.5-cm-thick stainless steel first wall was used. An additional 2.45-cm-thick carbon layer was added in Phase-IIIB, and a large opening (42.55 × 37.6 cm) was made at one side at the center of the annular assembly in Phase-IIIC. Calculations were performed independently by the United States and JAERI for many measured items that included TPR from 6Li(T6), 7Li(T7), in-system spectrum measurements, and various activation measurements. In this paper, the calculated-to-measured values for the aforementioned measured items are given, as obtained separately by the United States and JAERI. In addition, the mean value of the prediction uncertainties of the local and line-integrated TPR and the associated standard deviations are given based on the calculational and experimental results obtained in all the experiments.
