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This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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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.
Panos J. Karditsas, Neill P. Taylor
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 44 | Number 1 | July 2003 | Pages 227-231
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Divertor and Plasma-Facing Components | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A338
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As part of the European Power Plant Conceptual Study, two different divertor designs were proposed, based on previous work on HETS (High Efficiency Thermal Shield) performed at FZK and ENEA. The coolant is helium gas at pressures in the range 10-14 MPa and the inlet temperatures are in the range of 500-800°C. The geometrical complexity of the designs made prediction of heat transfer coefficients, needed for conducting thermal and structural analysis, difficult, and the calculated values from empirical correlations uncertain. This paper presents and summarises results of thermal-fluid calculations performed on both divertor concepts and gives estimates of effective values of heat transfer coefficients based on the local flow conditions and temperature distributions. The agreement of calculations with experimental values for similar conditions, inspires confidence in results from such calculations, and demonstrates that computational fluid dynamic finite element codes can accurately predict behaviour, and can be used to optimise the designs.