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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.
Nam-Jin Heo, Takuya Nagasaka, Takeo Muroga, Arata Nishimura, Kenji Shinozaki, Hideo Watanabe
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 44 | Number 2 | September 2003 | Pages 470-474
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Fusion Materials | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A380
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The effect of the laser welding condition on properties of the weldment, such as bending, tensile and charpy impact properties were investigated in a V-4Cr-4Ti alloy (NIFS-HEAT- 2). The microstructural and microchemical development in the weldment was also investigated for mechanistic study of the impurity behavior during the welding. Increase in hardness occurred in the weld zone. The hardening was due to the dissolution of the large and small precipitates existed in the base metal before welding. The degree of hardening varied with a distance from the bead center. The absorption energy by the impact test increased with the decrease in the input power density during the laser welding. The impact absorption energy of the weld, which is similar to that of the base metal, was obtained by optimizing the welding condition.
