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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.
B. A. Pint, J. R. DiStefano, P. F. Tortorelli
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 44 | Number 2 | September 2003 | Pages 433-440
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Fusion Materials | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A373
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The primary functions of the blanket in a deuterium/tritium-fueled fusion reactor are to convert neutron kinetic energy into heat, breed tritium for the fuel cycle and accommodate a heat transfer system. Various blanket concepts have been considered including those incorporating liquid metals, molten salts, water and He. The objective of this review is to outline some of the critical compatibility issues associated with structural materials being considered for designs operating at >500°C. Examples are given for vanadium alloys, magnetohydrodynamic coatings, oxide dispersion strengthened ferritic alloys and silicon carbide composites.
