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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.
Gregory C. Staack, Mark L. Crowder, James E. Klein
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 67 | Number 3 | April 2015 | Pages 580-583
Proceedings of TRITIUM 2013 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-T84
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recently, the demand for He-3 has increased dramatically due to widespread use in nuclear nonproliferation, cryogenic, and medical applications. Essentially all of the world’s supply of He-3 is created by the radiolytic decay of tritium. The Savannah River Site Tritium Facilities (SRS-TF) utilizes LANA.75 in the tritium process to store hydrogen isotopes. The vast majority of He-3 “born” from tritium stored in LANA.75 is trapped in the hydride metal matrix. The SRS-TF has multiple LANA.75 tritium storage beds that have been retired from service with significant quantities of He-3 trapped in the metal. To support He-3 recovery, the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) conducted thermogravimetric analysis coupled with mass spectrometry (TGA-MS) on a tritium aged LANA.75 sample. TGA-MS testing was performed in an argon environment. Prior to testing, the sample was isotopically exchanged with deuterium to reduce residual tritium and passivated with air to alleviate pyrophoric concerns associated with handling the material outside of an inert glovebox. Analyses indicated that gas release from this sample was bimodal, with peaks near 220 and 490°C. The first peak consisted of both He-3 and residual hydrogen isotopes, the second was primarily He-3. The bulk of the gas was released by 600 °C.