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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.
I.B. Kupriyanov, V.V. Vlasov
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 38 | Number 3 | November 2000 | Pages 350-356
Technical Paper | Special Issue on Beryllium Technology for Fusion | doi.org/10.13182/FST00-A36149
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The efficiency of the beryllium application as a plasma-facing material and a neutron multiplier in a solid breeder blanket will depend on helium-induced swelling and tritium and helium release from this metal. The effect of a neutron irradiation on helium and tritium mobility and swelling for three beryllium grades fabricated by VNIINM is described in this paper. The beryllium blocks were irradiated with a neutron fluence (E >0.1 MeV) (2.6 – 3.4). 1021 cm−2 ( 1.3 – 1.8 dpa ) at 550°C, 620°C and 790°C. Mass-spectrometry techniques was used to simultaneously monitoring of gas release during isothermal multi-stage annealing over 500 – 1300°C temperature range. It is shown that the first signs of the helium release have been detected at temperature about 700°C, while the intense tritium release has occurred at all stages of annealing. Based on the data obtained, the diffusion parameters ( Do, E ) for both the gases in beryllium were calculated. The total amount of helium accumulated in irradiated beryllium varied from 240 appm to 620 appm. The tritium mobility increases significantly when swelling increases, while that for helium changes very slightly. With swelling increase from 0.5 to 1.8 % the ratio of helium to tritium retentions changes approximately from 4:1 to 10:1. The tritium and helium retentions and beryllium swelling are presented as functions of the distance from the irradiated surface. The experimental data are also discussed in comparison with calculations.