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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
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Latest News
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.
G. Jossens, C. Mathonat, F.Bachelet
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 67 | Number 2 | March 2015 | Pages 390-393
Proceedings of TRITIUM 2013 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-T36
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For more than 40 years, large volume calorimeters developed by SETARAM Instrumentation, have been used for nuclear applications including the assay of tritium and plutonium. They have been installed in major nuclear centers all around the world.The calorimeters are used for inventory of nuclear material, or for research. In 2011 a project was launched to develop a calorimeter for the management of waste in large volume drums. A new calorimeter has been developed by Setaram Instrumentation and the CEA Valduc in France.This new calorimeter is designed for drums having a volume bigger than 100L. It guarantees high operator safety by optimizing drum handling and air circulation for cooling, and optimized software for direct measurement of the quantity of nuclear material. The system is designed to provide precise measurements independent of environmental conditions.
