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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.
W. M. Shu, I. Cristescu, R. Michling, D. Demange, R. S. Willms, M. Glugla
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 67 | Number 3 | April 2015 | Pages 563-566
Proceedings of TRITIUM 2013 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-T80
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Three kinds of Pt-catalyzed zeolite were tested as candidates for isotopic exchange of highly tritiated water (HTW), and CBV 100 CY (Na-Y, Si/Al~5.0) shows the best performance. Small-scale tritium testing indicates that this method is efficient for reaching an exchange factor (EF) of 100. Full-scale non-tritium testing implies that an EF of 300 can be achieved in 24 hours of operation if a temperature gradient is applied along the column. For the isotopic exchange, deuterium recycled from the Isotope Separation System (deuterium with 1% T and/or 200 ppm T) should be employed, and the tritiated water regenerated from the Pt-catalyzed zeolite bed after isotopic exchange should be transferred to Water Detritiation System (WDS) for further processing.
