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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. Chakraborty, P. K. Pradhan, R. K. Fotedar, N. Krishnamurthy
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 65 | Number 2 | March-April 2014 | Pages 332-337
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-661
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In order to investigate the effect of nickel saturation on the corrosion of Type 316L stainless steel (SS 316L) by Pb-17Li, a SS 316L test capsule was fabricated and filled with Pb-17Li along with some Ni chunks. The system was maintained at a temperature gradient of 923 to 623 K for 3200 h. Characterization of SS 316L tube samples from various temperature locations by an electron probe microanalyzer revealed that dissolution of Ni from the steel matrix could be effectively suppressed in this manner, though leaching of Cr and Fe could not be prevented. No nickel depletion from SS 316L was observed in the tube at the higher temperature (923 K), even after 3200 h, whereas nickel encrustations were found in low-temperature areas. The saturation of Pb-17Li by the added nickel had possibly prevented Ni dissolution from the SS 316L surface, and thereby, the formation of a porous corroded layer could be avoided.
