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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.
Alice Ying, Hongjie Zhang, Mu-Young Anh, Youngmin Lee
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 2 | September 2015 | Pages 346-352
Technical Paper | Proceedings of TOFE-2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-908
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
First-of-a-kind numerical simulation was performed to evaluate time dependent tritium transport properties for Korea’s HCCR (Helium-Cooled Ceramic Reflector) TBM (Test Blanket Module) design under ITER inductive operating conditions. The estimation of tritium inventories in various components of the HCCR submodule and its permeation amount into the helium coolant was obtained through three computational models involving: 1) a 3D FW standalone model where diffusion and permeation into FW He coolant through tritium ion implantation was studied, 2) a 2D Poloidal-Radial (P-R) mid-plane model where the effect of increased tritium concentration in the purge gas stream was accounted for, and 3) a 2D Toroidal-Radial (T-R) mid-plane model to study tritium concentration accumulation in the He coolant. The analysis shows that tritium inventory in the breeder reaches an equilibrium value in about 10 cycles, and is about 0.373 mg per submodule. Tritium inventory in the ferritic steel structure reaches its equilibrium value in less than 10 cycles, and has about 0.0012 mg per submodule at the end of the plasma burn. The amount of the tritium permeated into helium coolant is about 1.8% of the amount of tritium produced per cycle.